Former President of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), Bassam Adeel Jaleel has been ordered to vacate the apartments by late Tuesday amid criticism.
Maldives Police Service (MPS) issued this order to Bassam after being subject to public backlash for initially deciding to extend the deadline to October 31, as requested by Bassam's lawyer via a letter, citing “humanitarian” reasons.
The court ordered Bassam to surrender his apartments to authorities on September 28.
MPS earlier revealed that the court ordered Bassam to hand over two apartments in his possession at Amin Avenue in Hulhumalé to the police institution before October 6, in connection with the FAM embezzlement case.
However, after the extension of the deadline churned public backlash, the police institution issued a statement highlighting that after reviewing the situation on October 4, they determined that the deadline could not be extended as Bassam had requested.
MPS is currently in the process of vacating and taking over these two apartments.
The statement added that if the apartments are not handed over by 12am on October 9, they will take necessary legal measures to bring the apartments under police custody.
In August 2024, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) suspended Bassam, who is accused of embezzling funds received by the house from several foreign agencies.
At a time FIFA has suspended Bassam, he has been slapped with multiple charges and is currently being tried at court.
The decision followed an investigation conducted by FIFA into the FAM raids for corruption, money laundering and other crimes.
Officers raided FAM under an order issued by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office).
An investigation is also underway to find out whether Bassam, received any donations or benefits from another party, as the president of FAM.
It has also been decided that an investigation will be carried out to find out if Bassam misused the funds provided to FAM by multiple agencies.
FIFA has informed Bassam that he will be banned from all football activities for a nine-month period.
The police institution is investigating corruption within the FAM house, and it is a major issue presently under investigation.
Two charges have been filed against Bassam in connection with the case, so far; money laundering and fraud. In January, charges were levied for fraud and money laundering, at the Criminal Court.
The Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office) has also sought from the state to recover the USD 10,000 laundered in the case.
The state prosecutors have claimed at the court that the cases under investigation currently include a USD one million case and several other cases.
In April the PG Office alleged that Bassam had embezzled a hefty amount of money received by the association, for his own expenses. Information shared by the PG Office indicates that the FIFA had provided USD 12.4 million to FAM between 2018 and October 2023, in aid.
The PG Office went on to reveal that FAM also acquired funds through the government, as well as by renting out fields.
PG Office has also alleged that when FIFA’s funds were deposited in USD, FAM had exchanged them for Maldivian Rufiyaa, without adhering to any rules and procedures and without maintaining a relevant record for the transactions.
The office revealed that Bassam purchased properties using FAM funds, made expenses for businesses registered under his name using FAM funds and even used the funds to take care of family expenses as well as travelling abroad.
It has also come to light that Bassam is also linked to the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) money laundering case, which is also being probed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
According to the PG Office, the executive committee of FAM is responsible for all decisions, and they were not bothered when FAM’s funds were deposited to the personal accounts of its employees and did not examine the issue at all.
