Ali Thameem
At a time of the year when Dhivehi football is in the off-season, the floodlights are beamed at the FAM president. The criminal court of Maldives has decreed Bassam Adeel Jaleel’s passport must remain confiscated.
The president of FAM had his passport temporarily seized by the state over the PG’s indictments of embezzlement in December 2023. The Prosecutor General has requested today to extend the confiscation of Bassam’s passport until the trial ends, and the criminal court has granted it.
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Bassam had registered himself at the 34th AFC Congress held last week, planning to travel to Thailand with his FA colleagues, Vice President Ali Umar and General Secretary Mohamed Jaushan Shareef. However, the president was forced to stay home because his passport was in the hands of bureaucrats.
The latter two delegates had to attend the Congress and represent Maldives, without the head of FAM to accompany them. The Sports Commissioner of Maldives Mohamed Tholaal, however, had stated in a press conference this Tuesday that any FAM delegate is allowed to attend an international congress unless specific legislation otherwise prohibits it.
This was not the first regional convention that Bassam was forced to miss. He had pleaded to the criminal court to release his passport in February, to attend an AFC meeting in Qatar. The court had declined the request.
