The state is refusing to grant medical leave to former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb due to threat of flight, the government has said.

Attorney General Mohamed Anil said at a press conference on Tuesday that the government does not intend to bar him from receiving medical attention and expressed that it would allow doctors to see him in prison.

“The government will not keep Adeeb from receiving medical treatment” Anil told the press from the President’s Office.

The Attorney General further said that the former vice president currently owes the state over USD 10 million, and that there is strong reason to believe he may flee – resulting in the loss of this sum’s entirety to the state.

“What country would allow a man convicted of attempting to assassinate is sitting leader? Who would allow him to flee with so much money?” Anil said.

Adeeb’s family had released a statement earlier this month claiming that Adeeb has developed an internal cyst, kidney stones, and vision impairment from glaucoma since his incarceration in 2015.

They have accused the state of negligence in failing to provide the former vice president with adequate medical care during his isolated incarceration in Dhoonidhoo Island while the police investigated him.

Adeeb, the youngest individual thus far to have served as vice president, was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison for a reported assassination attempt against President Abdulla Yameen and for his role in the heavily publicized case of graft involving the state-operated Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation.