A court order was issued on 28 September for beleaguered former President of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) Bassam Adeel Jaleel to hand over two apartments in Hulhumalé owned by him to the police by the 6th of this month, and the agency is taking the necessary steps to seize the properties, a spokesman has confirmed.
Police had originally documented evidence for the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) in connection with the purchase of the two apartments at Amin Avenue, which Jaleel acquired using funds misappropriated from FIFA.
A case was subsequently filed, in addition to Jaleel, against the owner of Amin Avenue, Amin Construction; the then head of the FAM’s financial department, Mohamed Ageel; as well as Hassan Waheed, who was then in charge of the FAM and later became chairman of Valencia.
Police allege that Jaleel spent, across three instalments, US$1 million of the $1.9 million Covid loan designated to the FAM by FIFA to buy the apartments at Amin Avenue.
As a result of the police submission, Jaleel’s passport was then withheld as part of the investigation, until the PGO filed fraud and money laundering charges against him in February this year.
FIFA decided on 20 June to suspend Jaleel from all footballing activities for nine months after the world footballing body’s Investigative Chamber found that he had abused his influence as the FAM’s top official to solicit gifts and misused funds designated for the Maldives.
According to the money laundering case filed against Jaleel, he diverted at least US$10,000 of FIFA’s funds to his own account.
Meanwhile, FIFA has handed over the interim-management of the FAM to a normalising committee.
