The Criminal Court on Thursday, 29 October, sentenced two men to eight years, nine months and 18 days in prison each for embezzling diesel meant for state-owned Maldives Ports Limited (MPL).
The court found Mohamed Aiman, of Vaaruge, S. Feydhoo, then Chief Manager of MPL's Procurement Department, and Sojib, a Bangladeshi national who worked as a fuel tanker driver for Fuel Supply Maldives (FSM), guilty of embezzlement and of producing false documents with intent to deceive.
The sentence combines eight years for embezzlement and nine months and 18 days for the false-document offence. The court also ordered the repayment of MVR 6,799,800 to the state, the value of the diesel.
119 delivery notes
According to the charges brought by the state, 119 delivery notes prepared between 13 January and 10 October 2020 recorded diesel deliveries to MPL that never took place.
The prosecution said Aiman, as procurement chief, had the notes accepted by stating that they related to fuel supplied to the company during 2019. The notes were then processed through MPL's system, showing that the company had received 783,100 litres of diesel.
On that basis, MPL paid FSM MVR 6,799,800 for fuel it had not received, the prosecution said. Sojib was charged with preparing and signing the 119 delivery notes while working as an FSM tanker driver.
The state filed the charges against the two men on 25 February 2024.