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Tuesday 29 Apr 2025
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Former Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamaan Waheed. (Photo/Maldives Immigration)
The High Court has ruled against former Controller General of Immigration, Mohamed Shamaan Waheed, in his bid to overturn his detention in a corruption case.
Shamaan, 36, was dismissed from his role as the head of Maldives Immigration on March 20. In a statement shortly after the news of his dismissal broke, the police said they were investigating a case involving “several employees of Maldives Immigration who misused their authority to gain undue benefits from expatriate workers.”
Investigators raided Shamaan’s residence in Male’ the same night, and seized MVR 257,475, USD 10,000 and cash in other foreign currencies, as well as electronic devices.
He was arrested on March 21 after he arrived at the Sergeant Adam Haleem Criminal Investigation Building for questioning.
The Criminal Court initially remanded him in custody of the police for 15 days, before ordering him to jail pending the outcome of his trial on April 6. He appealed both decisions with the High Court.
The High Court decided on Tuesday that there were no grounds to overturn either of the detention orders.
Shamaan’s lawyer, Nooruh Salam, had argued in court that the former Immigration chief was being treated in violation of standard protocol. He said that Shamaan was accused of corruption when his detention was initially extended to 15 days, but the police failed to involve the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as required by law during this stage.
The police have also arrested four other Immigration officers in connection to the case.
They are:
According to the police, their investigation uncovered that three Immigration officers working in sections other than the taskforce or the risk management section – who are usually involved in identifying and detaining irregular expatriates – abused their authority to raid a migrant accommodation building.
Seven expatriates – all of whom were found to have their documents in order - were detained with large amounts of cash in the raid.
A team of Immigration officers specialized in such raids were later brought in. They re-processed the scene, sealed the confiscated evidence and took the expatriates to the Immigration Detention Center.
At midnight on March 13, one of the expatriates – who was taken into custody with MVR 530,000 in cash – was released from detention taken to the Immigration office located at M. Star Cloud.
According to police, the sponsor who came to receive the expatriate is a family member of one of the Immigration officers arrested in the case.
The investigation uncovered that the cash confiscated with the expatriate was put into a bag and given to him when he was released from detention.
The three Immigration officers involved in the raid were seen near Star Cloud as the expatriate’s release was being processed. He left the building on a motorcycle with his sponsor, but stopped at Shaheed Ali Hingun and boarded an Immigration vehicle with one of the officers – who has also been arrested.
The police said the vehicle drove along the roads of Male’ before arriving near the expatriate’s residence. Investigators believe that “certain decisions were made” during this trip.
One of the Immigration officers involved disembarked the vehicle near Star Cloud, while a second one disembarked near the Velana Building. Meanwhile, the officer who disembarked near Star Cloud got on a motorcycle and drove near the Velana Building, and then took out the money bag from the Immigration vehicle and then took it to Shamaan’s residence.
The officers involved in the raid met with the expatriate on the street, took the money from him, and entered the building where Shamaan residences carrying the money.
“CCTV footage shows the bag had a large amount of cash when he entered the house, and the bag was scrunched up into his fist when he exited,” said the police.
Shamaan was appointed as Controller General of Immigration on November 19, 2023 – two days after President Muizzu took office.
His dismissal came as a surprise to many, as he gained praise for leading a crackdown on illegal immigration – a longstanding issue in the Maldives.
But he, along with at least four other Immigration officers, are accused of unlawfully detaining migrants and extorting money from them.
These allegations are denied by Shamaan’s family, including his wife Hidhufa Faiz, who has described it as a frame job.
The family claims that Shamaan was framed by Home Minister Ali Ihusan because he has evidence of corruption by the latter, including an incriminating video. The family also said that Shamaan had alerted President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to the alleged corruption via a letter back in December last year, including corruption in issuance of quotas and work permits for expatriates.
