MMPRC ex-chief given 14 days to respond to charges
Criminal Court made the decision at Sunday's hearing
Former Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Abdulla Ziyath was presented to Criminal Court on Sunday
Former Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Abdulla Ziyath has been given 14 days to respond to the 29 charges filed against him.
Criminal Court decided to allow him two weeks to respond at Sunday's hearing.
Charges were raised against Ziyath in connection to the lease of 30 of the 50 islands leased. Each island lease had been listed as a separate charge.
In addition to Ziyath, Shahid Husssain was listed as a co-respondent in one of the charge.
At Sunday's hearing, both Ziyath and Shahid denied the charges against them.
This is the first time in the nation’s history that so many charges had been raised against one individual. Twenty-three of the charges were raised against Ziyath on July 31, while the rest were raised on August 15.
He was arrested in October 2015.
Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb had also been charged in connection to the MMPRC graft. Ten charges were raised against former VP on the grounds of abuse of power. The trials are underway.
The startling revelations about the corporation came after an audit report on the corporation was released, which showed a graft of MVR 1.22 billion.
