PG: Ali Waheed's passport case to be appealed to Supreme Court

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office) has decided to appeal the case over the departure of Ali Waheed to the Supreme Court after the High Court invalidated the appeal form in the case. 

Ali Waheed is facing seven charges of sexual crimes. He departed from the Maldives in early February after the Criminal Court released his passport. 

The case was appealed to the High Court by the PG, which invalidated the appeal form of the case after ordering the PG to clarify the current address of Ali Waheed in order to send the chit for the case. 

PG Office spokesperson and Public Prosecutor Ahmed Shafeeu said that the office will be appealing the case to the Supreme Court. PG Office has previously said that it was not the responsibility of the office to find the current address of the accused. The High Court invalidated the case after stating that if the current address of the accused was clarified, the case could be resubmitted. 

Former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed was accused of a number of sexual crimes and even attempted rape by employees of the Ministry during his tenure as Minister.

The complaints were conveyed to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih last year who then ordered Ali Waheed to resign. Ali Waheed refused to do so on the basis of a political conspiracy against him.

The President then fired Ali Waheed and the case is still on trial. 

Ali Waheed departed from the Maldives to the UK after his passport was released by the Criminal Court in early February.

Massive public outrage was observed over the departure of Ali Waheed when charges were levied against him. Ali Waheed’s passport was released after a medical professional testified in court that he required spinal surgery unavailable from the Maldives.

He had departed after assigning his close aide and State Minister of the Youth Ministry Assad Ali (Adubarey). The PG Office has since alleged that Ali Waheed departed before the Criminal Court order releasing his passport. The issue has even led to a parliamentary inquiry and calls for amendments to be brought to the regulations surrounding the departure of defendants accused of such serious crimes for medical care.