Abdullah Ziyath, the former head of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), was on Monday sentenced to 11 years in prison by a criminal court in the Maldives, Sun news reported. 

The sentencing came in a multi-million dollar corruption scam that happened in the state-owned MMPRC during the time of the former president Abdullah Yameen. 

Under an agreement with prosecutors, Ziyath had pleaded guilty to all the 32 charges brought against him in this case. 

Earlier he had told in the court that he had personally received the checks but wasn’t benefited personally. He claimed he had handed over all the checks to Ahmad Adeeb, the former vice-president in the Yameen administration. This is the third high profile sentencing in the $45 million MMPRC scam. 

Around a year ago, former President Abdullah Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison in the same case while his deputy Ahmad Adeed got 20 years in prison. 

The scandal rocked the government where the state incurred loss of more than $45 million. The money laundering charges were also proved against the former president and his deputy.