Charges sought against head of Mash’ar for embezzling MVR 500,000 from pilgrims

The police have asked the Prosecutor General’s Office for criminal charges against the head of local tour group Mash’ar Hajj & Umrah for embezzling over MVR 500,000 in payments collected by dozens of pilgrims.

In a press statement on Saturday, the police said that Al-Mash’ar Pvt. Ltd. was found to have embezzled over MVR 500,000 collected from 27 individuals who thought they were paying for umrah pilgrimage last year.

The police said they finished the investigation and asked the PGO for charges against the head of Mash’ar, Ali Farish, Haveeree Fini, K. Male’, on January 19.

The police said they also asked for charges against Al-Mash’ar, Tria Pvt. Ltd. and Halftone Pvt. Ltd.

All three companies are registered to Farish.

The latest case comes after the police asked for charges against Al-Mash’ar in December 2, 2024, over bounced cheques.

The bounced cheques had been payments for the tour group’s Umrah pilgrims during Ramadan last year, and had led to some 50 pilgrims getting stranded in Saudi Arabia.

The incident was reported to the police on April 13, 2024.

The tour group was reported to the police by the Islamic Ministry.