The Criminal Court has sentenced former President of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) Bassam Adeel Jaleel to 23 years in jail for misusing the FAM's funds in purchasing an Amin Avenue apartment.

Bassam was charged with fraud and money laundering for using USD 1.2 million from the FAM to pay for a penthouse apartment. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison and fined MVR 44 million.

Bassam, who is already serving a jail sentence for another conviction connected to embezzling FAM funds, will be in prison for a total of 32 years.

According to the Prosecutor General's (PG) Office, Bassam was convicted because evidence proves he used checks to purchase the apartment and the money withdrawn for currency exchange was not returned to the FAM.

He also paid around MVR 6 million in cash to Amin Avenue over a period of about two months. The PG Office argued that he had no means to pay that amount.

Along with the fine, the court declared Bassam’s penthouse as property obtained through money laundering and ordered the PG Office to find a way to recover the embezzled funds.