Manday and Jaishan appear before court for pre-trial hearing in K-Park case

Hassan Mamdhooh (Manday) and his acquaintance Jaishan Saeed appeared before the Criminal Court for a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday, as they stand pressed with over 200 charges over fraud in the sale of apartments from K-Park Residences – a condominium under development in Hulhumale’.

The Prosecutor General’s Office filed criminal charges against Manday and Jaishan in December last year, with Manday pressed with 104 charges and Jaishan pressed with 98 charges. The charges against them include money laundering, fraud, misappropriation, and providing counterfeit documents to individuals to defraud them.

They appeared before the Criminal Court for the first pre-trial hearing in the case on Tuesday morning. During the hearing, Judge Ali Nadheem asked whether the defendants had received all documents related to the case, and whether they wished to proceed with the assistance of a lawyer.

Both Manday and Jaishan said they wished to hire lawyers.

The judge granted 10 days for them to hire a lawyer, warning that court proceedings will continue even if they fail to hire legal representation during that time.

The fraudulent sale of the K-Park apartments was submitted for police investigation by both Hanbo – the project’s developer - and Urbanco.

Manday, the former minority shareholder at Hanbo, was arrested by the police, but was later granted conditional release by the court.

Manday and Jaishan are accused of doctoring documents by forging the signature of Hanbo’s majority shareholders, and opening an account in the company’s name with the Bank of Maldives (BML) in order to defraud multiple clients.

The police found that 23 K-Park apartments were sold to over 50 people, with some of the apartments sold to as many as six people.

During the investigation into the case, the police raided an MVR 7.8 million penthouse apartment, which investigators believe was purchased by Manday by selling two apartments from K-Park Residences to four different buyers.

From the penthouse, the police found items worth around MVR 7 million, including 200 unopened perfume bottles, luxury bags, and jewelry.

Manday has categorically denied the allegations against him. He faces 40 years in prison if convicted of the charges.