Former president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM), Bassam Adeel Jaleel, has appealed a Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court order that led the Maldives Police Service to seize two apartments he owns in a luxury complex in Hulhumale’.

The police suspect the apartments were purchased with funds embezzled from the FAM.

According to the High Court's registry, Bassam filed his appeal on Wednesday. The court has yet to decide whether to accept or reject it.

Bassam had been ordered by the police to surrender the two apartments at Amin Avenue by midnight on Wednesday, following a 24-hour extension of the original deadline. He complied and handed over the apartments by the given time.

The police investigation revealed that in 2021, Bassam embezzled USD 1 million from a USD 1.9 million loan provided by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to support football clubs during the Covid-19 pandemic. He allegedly used the money to purchase the two apartments from Amin Avenue, with payments made to Amin Construction, the developer, in three installments.