Bassam asked to hand over apartments allegedly bought with FAM funds

Bassam Adeel Jaleel, the embattled former president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), has been served notice to hand over two apartments he had allegedly bought from FAM funds to Maldives Police Service.

As per the notice, Bassam has been asked to hand over the apartments by Sunday. If he fails to do so, the apartments will be seized under Police custody.

Bassam is under investigation for multiple cases of embezzlement and money laundering.

The Police have asked the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) for charges against Bassam and others involved in the case.

The police investigation uncovered that in 2021, Bassam embezzled USD 1 million out of a USD 1.9 million loan provided by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to disburse funds to football clubs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He used over MVR 3 million in FAM funds to purchase two apartments from Amin Avenue.

The payments to Amin Construction – the developer of Amin Avenue - were made in three installments.

Investigators also found a fake paper trial was set up to make it appear like an equivalent amount of Maldivian Rufiyaa was transferred to FAM’s bank account to replace the embezzled USD 1 million.

The police have asked for criminal charges against Bassam, Amin Construction, FAM’s then-finance head Mohamed Aqeel, and Hassan Waheed (Dhona), another former FAM official.

Bassam, Aqeel and Dhona are suspected of embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.

On June 20, FIFA suspended Bassam for nine months over the allegations against him