Dheena’s sentencing in Fenaka corruption case scheduled for Tuesday

Former Head of Procurement at Fenaka Corporation Mariyam Dheena’s sentencing following her guilty conviction in a corruption case is scheduled for Tuesday.

The company’s former Managing Director Ahmed Saeed was sentenced to four years in prison in connection with the case approximately a year ago. However, proceedings against Dheena were still pending at the time.

On Sunday, the Criminal Court found Deena guilty of abuse of official capacity, as charged by the state. The hearing to deliver her sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday, 10:00am.

The case concerns a 2018 agreement between Fenaka Corporation and Blazon Inc., under which payments were unlawfully released to the company before the work was completed and without verifying the project’s progress. Investigations also revealed that a second agreement was signed before the work under the initial agreement had been completed.

In the earlier ruling against Saeed, Criminal Court Chief Judge Adam Mohamed noted that corruption within state-owned enterprises and the embezzlement of public funds had become widespread. The judge stressed that lenient penalties for such offences encourage corruption, underscoring the need to impose the maximum punishments prescribed by law.

Saeed was convicted of corruption and sentenced to four years in prison by the Criminal Court in September last year.