South Thaufeeg found guilty of defrauding the State of MVR 5.3 million

The Civil Court has ruled against Mohamed Thaufeeg (South Thaufeeg) in the case filed by him demanding the State to reimburse him for about MVR 1 million, which he was forced to pay to the State through torture in prison, during former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s presidency.

Chairman of South Enterprises Thaufeeg had filed a case against the Defence Ministry, claiming that the State forced him to pay over MVR 1 million by torturing him in jail to provide a confession statement.

Thaufeeg had claimed that he was accused of ‘fraud’ in violation of the agreement with the Defence Ministry, in arranging food for the personnel of National Security Service (NSS), now Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), from 1 September 1998 to 31 August 2000.

In this regard, he claimed that he was forced to confess and provide a statement that he billed the ministry for MVR 5,300,969 in excess of the actual amount, and after he paid MVR 1,196,426.40 out of MVR 5,300,969, he was pardoned by then President Maumoon in relation to paying the remaining amount.

Thaufeeg demanded the State to reimburse him for the amount he had paid to the government, claiming that this accusation by the State was baseless and that he was forced into making this payment.

After the trial regarding this case, Judge Ali Rasheed Hussain said that Thaufeeg could not prove in court that he was in fact tortured and forced into providing a statement that he billed the State in excess of the actual amount owed by the ministry.

The judge said that the statements by the prison guard and the doctor who checked him at the time, failed to prove that Thaufeeg had been tortured.

The court stated in its verdict that the evidence presented by the State, on the other hand, proved that Thaufeeg billed the Defence Ministry in excess of the actual amount owed by the ministry.

The court said that the fact that the then president pardoned Thaufeeg in relation to paying the remaining amount, is not a reason for the State to reimburse him for the amount that he paid to the State.