Former Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem will take their plea on the consolidated charges related to abuse of office and receiving corrupt benefit on the 10th of March.
They appeared before Magistrate Yogesh Prasad this morning.
The consolidated charges have been filed and served where Sayed-Khaiyum and Saneem's lawyer, Davanesh Sharma requested time to go through the documents.
Sayed-Khaiyum is charged with one count of abuse of office while Saneem is charged with one count of receiving a corrupt benefit.
It is alleged that Sayed-Khaiyum between June 30th and July 12th in 2022, while being the Acting Prime Minister signed a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government and the then Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem.
It is alleged the approval for the government to pay the taxes of Saneem was done without the proper approval of the Constitutional Offices Commission and the President.
It is alleged that between the 1st of June 2022 and the 31st of July 2022, while being employed as the Supervisor of Elections, Saneem without lawful authority and reasonable excuse, asked for and obtained a benefit for himself that is the approval and payment of deductible tax relief of more than $50,000 on his back pay from a senior Government official.
A tentative trial date has been set from the 26th to the 30th of the May this year.
