Maldives former vice president Ahmed Adeeb has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to graft, money laundering and abuse of power, court officials said Tuesday, reports AFP.
Adeeb was a close ally of ex-president Abdulla Yameen until Adeeb was jailed for allegedly trying to assassinate the strongman former ruler with a bomb on board his yacht in 2015.
The Criminal Court in an overnight decision also imposed a fine of two million rufiyaa ($129,000) for Adeeb’s role in syphoning money from the state tourism promoter during the former administration.
He was accused of causing a loss of about $260 million to the state in leasing islets for resort development and receiving kickbacks from tourism companies.
Adeeb’s then boss, Yameen, is already serving a five-year prison sentence after being found guilty in November of money laundering during his tenure between 2013 and 2018.
“Adeeb cooperated with the state in the investigation and entered a plea deal,” a court official said adding that the 20-year sentence was a “light punishment” for the crimes he admitted to.