It has been confirmed that former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed who is charged with multiple counts of sexual offences including attempted rape, was going to attend his court hearing virtually from the Maldives High Commission in the United Kingdom (UK), something which Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem described as “a joke”.

The prosecutor general told RaajjeMV that they confirmed this via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that the he had gone to the high commission for the hearing scheduled for June 10 which was later cancelled.

Ali Waheed was sacked as tourism minister back in July 2020 following multiple sexual abuse allegations from employees.

Seven charges were raised against the disgraced ex-minister in November, including one count of attempted rape, one count of sexual abuse, one count of indecent exposure, one count of sexual harassment and one count of attempted sexual harassment. He is also charged with two counts of solicitation of sexual favors.

While Waheed’s passport was withheld through court to prevent him from traveling abroad following the allegations, it was released and he was allowed to travel abroad following a “medical referral” back in February. He left the same day the passport order was repealed.

PG Shameem had expressed disappointment over the court’s decision to allow Ali Waheed to travel abroad, calling it unlawful.

The former minister failed to return within the given four-month deadline, claiming that the required treatments are not over. While the court approved his request to conduct hearings virtually after he provided the documents required from his doctors, the PG Office refused to cooperate stressing that a court hearing should be held where the state can implement the verdict of a Maldives court.

The Office has also appealed the Criminal Court’s decision to proceed with the trial virtually. While the High Court is yet to accept the case, police has also re-filed a passport seizure request on the PG’s order.