Former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed, who is due to return to the Maldives today, does not have a sentence to serve, it has been revealed.
The Supreme Court previously handed a contempt of court sentence of two months and 12 days to Ali Waheed for failing to respond to a summons to appear for a hearing.
However, the Supreme Court annulled the sentence in accordance with contempt of court rules after Ali Waheed sent letters on two occasions and apologized, Adhadhu has confirmed.
The rules offer the discretion for courts to forgo punishment if a person found guilty of contempt expresses remorse in writing and apologizes in good faith.
Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu has also confirmed to Adhadhu that Ali Waheed does not have a sentence to serve. As such, Ali Waheed will return today as a free man.
He is due to return on a flight in the late afternoon from Istanbul, Turkey, a source close to Ali Waheed confirmed to Adhadhu. He plans to meet with the press upon arrival.
Ali Waheed is returning after the Prosecutor General's (PG) office dropped charges raised against him over the alleged sexual assault of female staff at the tourism ministry. The state decided to withdraw the case on June 14.
After Ali Waheed left the Maldives while the trial was ongoing at the criminal court and did not return, the court sent the case back to the PG office on September 22, 2022. The PG office sent the case back to the police on October 6, 2022 with a request to forward it when he returns.
The PG office said the charges were dropped after victims and witnesses who gave statements wrote letters to the office and the police saying they no longer wished to proceed with the case.
The charges
Ali Waheed fled the Maldives on February 10, 2021. Despite an order issued on November 28, 2021 to bring him to court under arrest, he was not brought back to the country.
Ali Waheed went to the UK after the criminal court lifted a travel ban and authorized him to fly overseas for medical treatment. His passport was released after the youth ministry's state minister Assad Ali agreed to stand as a guarantor. Ali Waheed did not return when the period of the agreement expired.
The state appealed the criminal court's decision at both the high court and Supreme Court. But the cases filed at the high court and Supreme Court to withhold his passport were rejected over the failure to deliver summons to Ali Waheed as his whereabouts were unknown.
The PG office then sought an order from the criminal court for the second time to hold Ali Waheed's passport. The refusal to grant the order was appealed but the high court decided it could not hear the case in Ali Waheed's absence.
Ali Waheed was charged with sexual assault, sexual abuse, attempted sexual abuse, attempted rape, indecent exposure and soliciting unlawful sexual contact.
When Ali Waheed refused to resign as asked by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih after he was accused, he was sacked on July 9, 2020.
