Fugitive admits to paying Omnia Stategy on behalf of Maldives government
“Let’s say Al Capone were to come along and tell you to do something, well you would just do it. In the Maldives, the president and Vice President are like Al Capone, so I did what they said,” says Mohamed Allam Latheef, owner of a company implicated in the Maldives biggest corruption scandal.
22 Mar 2016, 9:00 AM
Mohamed Allam Latheef ‘Moho,’ owner of a company implicated in the Maldives’ biggest corruption scandal, has admitted to paying Cherie Blair’s legal consultancy firm Omnia Strategy on behalf of the government.
In his first media interview since the Maldives police launched a manhunt for him, Allam told The Daily Mail from an undisclosed location in Europe that he had arranged for the transfer of £210,000 to Omnia at the requested of detained former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb.
Allam is wanted in connection with an alleged attempt to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen with a bomb on his speedboat last September.
Citing leaked invoices and bank records, The Daily Mail reported last month that Omnia had billed Abdulla Ziyath, former managing director of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation, in August last year for £210,000 – half of its fee for a six-month contract signed with the Maldivian government in mid-2015.
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