Former head of MMPRC pleads guilty to 32 charges related to scandal

The former head of Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) Abdulla Ziyath has pleaded guilty to 32 charges brought against him in a Criminal Court hearing yesterday. 

Ziyath plead guilty under a plea deal with the prosecution. Charges against Ziyath are regarding his role in the leasing of uninhabited islands in the Maldives and the embezzlement of the funds obtained in the manner. 

Ziyath, in the hearing, said that he had personally received the cheques related to the scandal, but had not benefited financially from them. He said that the cheques were then handed over to others upon the instructions of former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb who had told him that the funds were used for government work. 

The prosecution, after hearing Ziyath’s guilty plea, requested a sentence of 11 years. 

The Judge presiding over the case, announced that the hearings in the case were now closed and that a verdict will be issued on Sunday. 

Ziyath has previously been convicted of embezzling the funds received from the leasing of Lh. Maabinhuraa and sentenced to eight years in prison by the Criminal Court in a separate trial. Ziyath had appealed the case to the High Court which upheld the ruling. He then appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which he later retracted after reaching an agreement with the prosecution.