Nazim appears in court over corruption allegations, requests lawyer

Criminal Court Judge Saeed Ibrahim granted Nazim’s request for seven days in which to seek a lawyer, after he was given the opportunity to respond to the accusations.

Judge Ibrahim said the trial would continue without notice if Nazim failed to produce a lawyer by the deadline.

The case is the second to be lodged against Nazim by the Prosecutor General’s office.

State Prosecutor Abdulla Rabiu alleged that Nazim, used the equipment and staff of Namira Engineering and Trading Private Limited of which he was the managing director to propose a bid in the name of a company called Tech Media Services, not registered in the Maldives.

At a press conference in August 2009, Chief Inspector Ismail Atheef said police had uncovered evidence that implicated Nazim, former Atolls Minister Abdulla Hameed and Eydhafushi MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem, former director of finance, in fraudulent transactions worth over Rf3,446,950 (US$270,000).

Police presented numerous quotations, agreements, tender documents, receipts, bank statements and forged cheques, claiming they proved that Nazim received hundreds of thousands of dollars in the scam.

A hard disk seized during a raid of Nazim’s office in May allegedly contained copies of forged documents and bogus letter heads.

Furthermore Nazim’s wife Zeenath Abdullah had abused her position as a manager of the Bank of Maldives’ Villingili branch to deposit proceeds of the fraudulent conspiracy, police alleged.

Hameed, also long-serving Speaker of the People’s Majlis, played a key role in the fraud by handing out bids without public announcements, making advance payments using cheques against the state asset and finance regulations, approving bid documents for unregistered companies and discriminatory treatment of bid applicants, police claimed.

In April this year, police confirmed a request from the Criminal Court to bring Hameed before a court in the Maldives, after a summons could not be delivered to him in a pending case.

Several hearings have been cancelled in the high-profile corruption case involving Hameed, who is the brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, after the court was unable to determine his whereabouts and deliver a summons.

Nazim was not responding to calls at time of press.