Mash'ar Tours owner sentenced to three years in jail

A verdict has been reached in the case regarding Mash'ar Group, where their cheque bounced when attempting to pay for the tickets of travelers to Umrah, resulting in the money not being paid and the pilgrims' tickets being cancelled. The owner of the group, Ali Farish has been sentenced to jail for three years by the Criminal Court due to fraud and deception charges being proven.

Farish was charged due to him not paying for the return tickets of 48 Umrah travelers via Ace Aviation Service and Ace Travels Maldives after making the booking of said tickets.

The MVR 390,126 cheque given to Ace Aviation Service (for the plane tickets) along with MVR 156,050 cheque bounced upon presenting them to the bank due to Mash'at Tours' BML account not having sufficient funds.

Farish failed to pay the amounts mentioned when given seven days to do so and was charged with fraud and deception, with an order for him to pay the amount in full.

During case proceedings, Farish told the court that once he was told the cheques had bounced and after he was given a chance to pay, he had transferred the first MVR 100,000 upon their request. He had further stated that as the tickets were issued as return tickets and as the return tickets had been cancelled at the last minute, he believes that the amounts specified in the cheques were not the correct payable amounts.

He also said that the two-way tickets stated the Jeddah-Male' sector only and that he was not informed of any transaction to be made regarding a supposed payable amount after the first one.

Farish also said that while the confirmed tickets showed that there was travel to be done to two sectors, they had only traveled to one sector. He also believed that the cancelation of the ticket for the return flight meant that he wouldn't have to pay the total amount for the tickets as per the cheques.

As per Farish, even though the correct amounts were written on the cheques, judging by the current situation, it would seem that the amounts do not match.

The sentencing covers the booking of 48 individuals on Sri Lankan Airlines and Qatar Airlines, Farish's booking of the tickets and subsequent cancellation of the return tickets. It also states that the victims of this case had to pay a cancellation fee to the airlines and that Farish had not paid the required amount for the tickets to the airline.

The court's sentence stated that while Farish pleaded not guilty to the fraud and deception charges, reference to the evidence shows that the charges were proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court, as per Article 51 of the Constitution.

The sentencing included a punishment of jail time of three years, two months and 12 days for the crime. It also stated that a payment of USD 26,350.32 or MVR 406, 321 is to be paid within two years to Ace Aviation and Ace Travels regarding the damages caused. 

The Islamic Ministry also issued a case against Mash'ar Group to the police regarding travelers to Umrah being stuck in Saudi Arabia.

The travelers under the care of Mash'ar Tours were brought back on the company's expense , as criticism mounted when the government paid to cover damages and bring back travelers who had been sent to Umrah under the care of unregistered companies.

Mash'ar Group had issues come to light last year as well. In 2023, persons who went on hajj and umrah with Mash'ar Group, who were operating under the name of Al-Mash'ar Hajj & Umrah Group, also encountered difficulties. As their registration to bring people to Hajj and Umrah had been revoked, they made a company under the name of Mash'ar Tours in 2023.