State seeks 11 years for ex-MMPRC MD, following plea deal

The state is seeking 11 years of imprisonment for former Managing Director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Abdulla Ziyath, following plea deal.

The state made the request after the Criminal Court found him guilty on the 32 charges against him on Monday, at the first hearing held since the plea agreement was signed.

Ziyath was sentenced to eight years in prison in June 2016, over his involvement in the embezzlement of USD five million that was paid to the state as an acquisition cost for Maabinhura Island in Lhaviyani Atoll, through MMPRC. While the High Court upheld his conviction in November 2018, he later lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court.

At an appeal hearing held last week, prosecutors informed the court that the former MMPRC MD has signed a plea bargain agreeing to cooperate with the investigations into the biggest corruption scandal in the country’s history.

The state attorney said that the deal was reached after Ziyath sent a letter to the Prosecutor General’s Office, guaranteeing cooperation in the investigations.

Noting that Ziyath had informed them he had no interest in continuing the Maabinhuraa case separately, the state attorney revealed that the 32 charges in the plea deal include this case as well.

He has since withdrawn the appeal case from the Supreme Court.

Confirming this at court on Monday, the former MMPRC MD assured that he made the decision to surrender his right to appeal on his own, without any influence.

Ziyath was arrested in 2015.