Criminal Court Sentences Former Fenaka Procurement Head to 1 Year 7 Months

The Criminal Court has sentenced former Fenaka Corporation procurement head Mariyam Dheena to one year, seven months and six days in prison after convicting her of misuse of official authority. The charges stemmed from a 2019 agreement between Fenaka and Blaze Inc. The state accused Dheena of releasing payment to Blaze Inc even though the company had not completed the work and without verifying that the work had been finished. At today's sentencing hearing, the state sought the base penalty, saying that while the crime merited a heavier punishment, Dheena is a single mother caring for young children and did not directly benefit from the offence. Her lawyer, Azima Shukoor, asked for the lightest sentence and requested that imprisonment be replaced with a fine and house arrest, citing Dheena's illness and her role as the sole carer of small children. Judge Adam Mohamed, however, ruled that no doctor had provided written confirmation that she could not be held in prison, and that her crime exposed wider society to corruption. He handed down the base penalty of one year, seven months and six days in prison. The court had previously sentenced Fenaka's former managing director, Mohamed Saeed, to four years in prison in the same case about a year ago.