Parole board pardons former MP Abdul Hameed

Former independent MP for Kaashidhoo, MP Abdul Hameed, has been granted clemency by the parole board, local media reports.

State Home Minister Mohamed Fayaz was reported as stating that MP Hameed had implemented one third of his sentence before he requested the parole board grant him clemency.

The Criminal Court last year sentenced Ismail Abdul Hameed to one year and six months banishment after he was found guilty of corruption.

The Prosecutor General pressed corruption charges against Hameed alleging that he had abused his authority as the former Director of Waste Management at the Male’ municipality to financially benefit a Singaporean company, named Island Logistics, in a deal to purchase a barge.

According to local media reports, Judge Abdulla Didi noted in the verdict at the time that the agreement stipulated that the barge was to be delivered within 90 days of signing the agreement, upon which 50 percent of the value was to be paid to Island Logistics.

Although the barge arrived in the Maldives on October 23, 2008, Hameed had however signed a document claiming that the barge was delivered on schedule on April 28, 2008.

The judge ruled that Hameed’s actions were intentional and in violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.

The case was appealed at the High Court and the Supreme Court, however the superior courts upheld the Criminal Court’s decision.

Until today the government had been telling the local media that Hameed was held under house arrest because an island for his banishment had not yet been determined.

The State Home Minister has said that his verdict was implemented by placing him under house arrest, as that was how banishment had been implemented lately because island councils had refused to accpet banished people.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)