Trial hearings have been scheduled to begin on October 5 in the cases against Gdh. Thinadhoo City Mayor Saud Ali, who is accused of inflating the island’s population to secure city status.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has filed two charges against Saud: knowingly submitting a false document and providing false information to a public office. According to the charges, on May 17, 2021, while serving as president of the Thinadhoo Council, Saud sent a letter to the Local Government Authority (LGA) to show that the island met the 10,000-person population requirement for city status. The letter allegedly included deceased individuals and other information whose accuracy could not be verified.

If convicted of submitting a false document, Saud could face a prison sentence of one year and seven months. The charge of providing false information carries a sentence of four months and 24 days. Under the Decentralisation Act, a sentence of more than one year would cost him his seat as mayor.

Thinadhoo was granted city status ahead of the 2023 presidential election, under the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The current government later decided to retain Thinadhoo’s status as a city.