Adeeb returns after medical leave

Jailed former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb has returned to Maldives on Saturday evening, after receiving medical treatment from abroad.

He traveled to India on June 14, and was initially set to return on June 26.

However, a day before he was expected to return, Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) announced that this medical leave had been extended until July 6 "as he is required to undergo a cancer screening."

While this was received with immense backlash, authorities assured that Adeeb “will not be given the opportunity to flee.”

In a tweet posted hours before his arrival on Saturday, the former VP tweeted that he will face the investigations being carried against him and that he “will never run away from responsibilities.”

To ensure Adeeb’s return, seven officers had accompanied him to India.

Adeeb underwent a laser treatment to evaporate stones in his kidneys, back in November last year. He was transferred to house arrest earlier this year, with conditions, after being admitted to hospital numerous times. According to his family, Adeeb also has glaucoma and internal cysts, all health issues are to have developed after his incarceration in October 2015.

He was arrested over the explosion aboard the presidential speedboat- which authorities claim was an assassination attempt on then-President Abdulla Yameen- and was sentenced to a total of 33 years on various charges afterwards.

However, all convictions have since been overturned, with the court ordering retrials in two cases.

Supreme Court ordered Maldives Immigration to withhold Adeeb's passport on Monday, saying that it has accepted the state's appeal case to overturn his eight-year embezzlement conviction.

While senior officials of all relevant institutions were summoned to the parliament’s committee on national security and foreign relations prior to Adeeb’s departure, Home Minister Imran Abdulla had said that police have made great strides in the investigations against him.