Exiled former lawmaker ordered to repay MVR2m bank loan

The civil court has ordered convicted former MP Ahmed Nazim to repay an MVR1.5 million (US$97,300) loan taken from the Mauritius Commercial Bank in 2012.

According to the judgment delivered Sunday, the former deputy speaker was ordered to repay the loan with interest and fines in accordance with an agreement mediated by the court’s dispute resolution division. Nazim must pay MVR440,000 by the end of the month and settle the rest within nine months.

Nazim, formerly a close associate of President Abdulla Yameen, was stripped of his Dhiggaru constituency seat in April 2015 after he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on corruption charges.

He was acquitted by the criminal court but the verdict was overturned by the Supreme Court in a surprise move.

According to local media, Nazim now lives in exile in the United Kingdom. He relocated there after he was allowed to seek medical treatment in Singapore.

The former lawmaker was found guilty of defrauding the state of MVR 1.4 million (US$91,400) by submitting bids on behalf of non-existent companies to supply 15,000 national flags to the now-defunct atolls ministry.

Nazim’s old seat was won by Faris Maumoon in a by-election in June 2015.