Criminal Court has ruled that Bassam's passport cannot be released to fly to Qatar for a FIFA meeting as president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM).

Earlier in December last year, Criminal Court had ordered that Bassam's passport be impounded on the request of the police in connection with the alleged embezzlement of FAM funds.

Bassam had sought issuance of his passport to attend a FIFA meeting in Qatar between February 5 - 22.

However, the state objected this request. Public Prosecutor Shafiu Ahmed, media official at the Prosecutor General's (PG) Office, told One today that FIFA had requested a person representing the FAM to attend the meeting.

"So, the vice-president of FAM, a member of the FAM, or anyone else from the FAM, can attend the meeting. Or it could have been given to someone appointed by the Sports Commissioner. Bassam is not required to go to that meeting," Shafiu said.

Shafiu said that in view of the state's observations, the Criminal Court had ordered that Bassam's passport should not be issued.

While Bassam's passport has been withheld, the main accused in the misappropriation of FAM funds is Bassam and the charge sheet will be filed within the next two weeks after collecting evidence, prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said.

"The police and my allegations are that the money sent by FIFA to the FAM is being used for various purposes in violation of the laws and regulations of the country. The Maldives has a set of rules and regulations in place to use money sent from different countries. The money sent by FIFA is not sent to the FAM. money given to the people of the country. That trust has been handed over to a particular group of people. We are checking if the money has been utilised properly. It looks like money has been deposited in different ways," Shameem said in a statement.

In December, the police entered the FAM on the orders of the PG to investigate the misuse of foreign funds to the FAM for personal gain. Following a court order, the police had asked fam to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into the association's financial dealings.

It has been several months since FAM employees have been paid salaries, along with serious debt issues, and there have been a number of complaints from FAM. The police told some media outlets that they had obtained evidence for the case from the association's documents and were investigating.

Responding to allegations of money laundering and fraud, FAM leaders said that the allegations were personal, and that FIFA had been informed that FAM had not done anything said in the case and brought it to the attention of FIFA and the AFC.