Charges against Thinadhoo Mayor Saud are politically motivated; I call on the government to withdraw them: Nasheed

Former President and MDP Chairperson Mohamed Nasheed has called for the withdrawal of charges against Thinadhoo Mayor Saud Ali, following the Prosecutor General’s Office filing two lawsuits against him. The charges involve allegations of submitting falsified population data to state authorities in a bid to secure city status for GDh. Thinadhoo.

In a post on X, Nasheed stated that the charges brought against Mayor Saud by the current administration are politically motivated. President Nasheed further asserted that these actions are part of a government effort to intimidate elected councils with the threat of imprisonment, adding that such tactics will not be tolerated.

In this case, Saud has been charged with knowingly providing a fraudulent document and providing false information to an official government agency.

The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that Saud is being charged with knowingly providing false documentation for his alleged efforts to falsely represent Thinadhoo as having the 10,000-resident population required to attain city status. According to the PG Office, the population list he signed and submitted to the Local Government Authority (LGA) included details of deceased individuals as well as other unverified information.

Furthermore, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the investigation revealed discrepancies in a second list signed and submitted by Saud. This followed a request from the Local Government Authority (LGA) for a verified list including national identity card numbers. The investigation found that this second list included information of individuals registered in other islands and featured several duplicate entries.

The lawsuit alleges that false information was shared on the list, claiming the population of Thinadhoo to be 10,150. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, if found guilty, the individual faces a standard sentence of one year, seven months, and six days in prison.

The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the second charge brought against Saud—providing false information to an official agency—stems from him allegedly misleading the police during the investigation of this case.

Furthermore, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that during the police investigation into the matter, Saud signed and sent a fax claiming there was no record of any population lists being submitted to state authorities in the council’s bid for city status, despite police requesting those specific documents. The basic penalty for this charge is a prison sentence of four months and 24 days.

Thinadhoo was granted city status during the previous MDP administration.