The Criminal Court has extended the remand period of former Controller General of Immigration, Mohamed Shamaan Waheed, by 15 days.

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has revealed that he was arrested under a court order in connection with allegations that some employees of Maldives Immigration were abusing their official influence to obtain undue benefits from foreign workers. The Criminal Court extended his remand period by an additional 15 days, on Saturday.

RaajjeMV understands that, Shamaan was arrested when he reported to Henveiru Police Station on March 21 to sign the inventory of items seized by the police institution after searching his residence. As a result, critics have been asserting that his “abrupt” arrest was out of fear that the truth of the case might unfold, and that there are hidden issues behind this.

In a statement released by the police institution on March 21 regarding the case, they said that based on information received about some Maldives Immigration employees abusing their official influence to obtain undue benefits from foreign workers, investigations so far have revealed that employees working in sections other than the Task Force and Risk Management Section, which normally handle the responsibility of finding and detaining illegal foreigners, have been misusing their official influence.

In addition to this, the police institution has highlighted that after searching a house where foreign workers were residing, a large amount of cash was taken along with the foreigners who were brought under Immigration's custody.

Further, a day later, on the orders of the then Controller General of Immigration, a foreigner who was brought to Immigration detention with MVR 530,000 was released from detention in the late hours the same day.