Former President of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), Bassam Adeel Jaleel, has been sentenced to a total of 23 years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering.

Bassam is already serving a nine-year prison sentence after being convicted in October on separate charges, including four years for embezzlement and five years for money laundering.

On Sunday, the Criminal Court found him guilty of two additional charges linked to the corruption and embezzlement of FAM funds. The case involved the embezzlement of USD 1.2 million (approximately MVR 19 million) from funds sent by FIFA to FAM as part of a COVID-19 relief loan.

At a sentencing hearing held today, Criminal Court Judge Mohamed Misbah sentenced Bassam to eight years in prison and ordered him to pay USD 1.2 million in damages within six months. He was also sentenced to 15 years in prison on money laundering charges and ordered to pay MVR 44.7 million to those involved in laundering the funds.

In addition, the court ordered the state to seize MVR 5.7 million obtained through money laundering.