AG's Office refers Centre Enterprises case of alleged fake documents

The Attorney General’s (AG) Office has referred to the police a case where Centre Enterprises is suspected of submitting fake documents in a lawsuit against the state to claim payment for medical equipment and consumables supplied to the Ministry of Health.

In 2022, the company filed a lawsuit in the Civil Court against the state, seeking MVR 79 million, which it claims is owed for supplying medical equipment and consumables to the Ministry of Health between 2008 and 2010.

However, during a special audit requested by the AG's Office into the significant sum of money the state was purportedly required to pay Centre Enterprises, suspicions arose regarding the authenticity of the company's documents. Yesterday, Auditor General Hussain Niyazee released a special audit report on the matter, which detailed multiple reasons to believe that a document submitted to prove the Ministry of Health owed money was self-generated and not authentic.

Following this, a statement released by the AG's Office said that because the authenticity of certain documents and transactions included in the four lawsuits Centre Enterprises filed against the state in 2021 and 2022 were questionable, these matters were reported to the police on 4th September 2022, and subsequently thereafter.

The audit report also raised questions about the amounts claimed by Centre Enterprises in the four earlier lawsuits. Furthermore, given the strong indication that a fraudulent document was submitted in the case against the Ministry of Health, the report advised that the matter be referred to the police for a criminal investigation.

According to the report by AG Hussain Niyazee, Centre Enterprises has filed six lawsuits against the state since 2008 to claim money. These lawsuits were filed against three state bodies and one company, claiming non-payment for services rendered.

The total value claimed in these lawsuits, including the principal amount of over MVR 175 million and accumulated fines, amounts to MVR 410.4 million. However, the report noted that internal company audits conducted during the relevant period indicated that the amount owed to the company was only MVR 11,746,510.

Centre Enterprises was registered in 2006 with three shareholders: Abdulla Aarif, Ahmed Jamiz, and Aleefa Ahmed, who is the Managing Director. When the state first raised suspicions about the submission of fake documents, the company denied all allegations.