Court orders freeze on fugitive’s bank accounts

The Civil Court has issued an injunction to freeze the bank accounts of 10 companies implicated in the country’s biggest-ever corruption scandal.

It ordered banks to freeze the personal accounts of Interpol-wanted Mohamed Allam Latheef, his father Abdul Latheef Aboobakur and accounts of 10 companies linked to them.

The companies affected are: SOF Pvt Ltd, SOF Studio Pvt Ltd, SOF Service Pvt Ltd,  Wild Almonds Pvt Ltd, Prenza Printers and Publishers Pvt Ltd, Dhivehi Media Group Pvt Ltd, SOF Development Pvt Ltd, Gladian Pvt Ltd,  Gladian Management Pvt Ltd and Biznas Maldives Pvt Ltd.

The injunction was issued at the Tourism Ministry’s request and is related to to an ongoing trial over the embezzlement of US$ 2.5 million from the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Company.

The money, which was supposed to go to the state, was transferred to the bank account of SOF Pvt Ltd.

The court order said the injunction was being issued because the state was having challenges recovering the money.

The case is one of several involving money being siphoned off to private accounts from the MMPRC. According to a special audit in 2016, over US$79 million was embezzled from the tourism promotion company with US$70 million siphoned to Allam’s SOF Pvt Ltd.

The court ordered Allam and Latheef to not give or sell any of their shares in these companies or transfer ownership of any assets belonging to these companies.

Allam – formerly the lead singer of a popular band called Scores of Flair – is a fugitive wanted in connection to an alleged assassination attempt of President Abdulla Yameen. An Interpol red notice has been issued for his arrest.