The High Court has rejected an appeal by former Controller General of Immigration, Shamaan Waheed, who was dismissed from his position over allegations of abusing his authority to extort money from foreign nationals.

Shamaan, along with two other immigration officers, was arrested on March 22 and sentenced to 15 days in jail in connection with a case involving the release of a detained foreigner. The foreign national, who was initially taken into custody during an immigration operation, was reportedly freed under Shamaan’s orders after a significant sum of money was collected from him. Seeking to overturn the lower court’s decision, Shamaan had approached the High Court with his plea yesterday.

In his appeal, Shamaan argued that the allegations against him were linked to corrupt financial transactions and that any investigation into potential money laundering should have involved the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). He claimed that the police had conducted the inquiry independently, without the ACC’s participation, which he contended was a violation of the criminal procedure code. He further asserted that, under these circumstances, the investigation and any actions taken as a result should be deemed legally invalid.

However, the High Court registrar declined to consider his appeal, determining that there was no basis for the higher court to intervene in the lower court’s ruling.

Earlier, police had stated that a group of immigration officials, who were responsible for identifying and apprehending illegal immigrants, had abused their authority by conducting a raid on a residence housing migrant labourers. During this operation, they allegedly seized cash and detained several foreign nationals. Investigations later revealed that a foreigner apprehended during the raid, along with MVR 530,000, was released the following night under Shamaan’s directives.

Further inquiries found that on March 21, immigration officers carrying a substantial sum of money were seen entering the residential building where Shamaan lived. Following this discovery, authorities conducted a raid on his residence, seizing a large amount of cash and various electronic devices as part of the investigation.