Adubarey arrested upon arrival in Maldives

Maldives Police Service on Saturday arrested and jailed the former State Minister of Youth Assad Ali (Adubarey) upon arrival in Maldives.

Sun has confirmed that Adubarey who was sentenced to 15 days in jail as the guarantor for former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed - who failed to appear at the court to stand trial on the multiple charges of sexual offences, after he was allowed to travel for medical purposes - arrived in Maldives at 08:30 pm on the UL 103 flight.

He arrived at a time when Maldives Correctional Services sent a request for Police assistance in finding him to enforce the jail sentence.

According to a tweet by the Commissioner of Prions Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu, after arriving in Maldives, Adubarey himself requested to enforce the jail sentence.

At the time the sentence was delivered, Adubarey had already left for the UK, where Ali Waheed is currently residing. Therefore, Corrections had requested the Police to find and extradite Adubarey in order to enforce the jail sentence on the same day the sentence was delivered.

A Police Spokesperson said as their investigation had found that Adubarey was not in the Maldives – they had informed the same to Corrections. No further details were disclosed.

Sun has been informed that Police had not made any additional efforts to find Adubarey. Corrections had only requested to verify whether he was in the Maldives or not. Any additional efforts would be made once Corrections lodge in another request.

Sun has been unsuccessful in its efforts to get a statement from Corrections regarding the matter.

Assad’s departure abroad at the time of his sentencing was deeply criticized by the public. This is as it took over a month to penalize Adubarey for Ali Waheed’s failure to appear at the Court after they decided to penalize him should Ali Waheed fail to appear before the Court in 72 hours on November 28. Subsequently, at the time Adubarey was sentenced – he had already left the country.

Case Background

Ali Waheed was dismissed as Tourism Minister on July 9, 2020, after allegations that he sexually assaulted and harassed multiple female employees at the Tourism Ministry was brought to the attention of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. He was initially asked to voluntarily resign but was dismissed after he refused.

He has been pressed with seven charges; attempted rape, inflicting a sexual, indecent exposure, sexual assault, attempt to cause sexual assault, and two counts of unlawful sexual contact.

Ali Waheed had a travel ban order issued against him on July 12, 2020, by the Criminal Court. Following a review, the order was cancelled on February 9, 2021, and his passport was released.

Criminal Court had cancelled the order and released his passport after listening to the testimony of Ali Waheed’s doctor who was summoned to court to brief the judge regarding his condition, as well as to confirm that he needed to go abroad for medical treatment. The doctor had explained that Ali Waheed’s life may be at risk if he undergoes surgery in the Maldives.

The Court made the decision to lift the travel ban as he had also submitted a guarantor for his return. His guarantor was then-State Minister for Youth Assad Ali (Adubarey).

He promptly left for the UK, the same day the Criminal Court cancelled a travel ban issued against him in connection to the case.

However, he failed to return to Maldives at the expiration of the four-month period granted by the court for his travel overseas. Subsequently, the hearings in connection to his trial had come to a halt.

Although some hearings were held online initially following this, the Supreme Court had ordered against holding online hearings in the case.