Presidential committee to review US$22m payout to Dheebaja

A local company awarded a multi-million payout by the Supreme Court has asked the Attorney General’s office to submit the matter to a ‘settlement committee’ formed to advise the president on compensation claims.

Dheebaja Investments agreed to halt a lawsuit seeking an enforcement order from the civil court in order to allow the committee to review and resolve the case, the AG office said in a press statement on Wednesday.

In April, Dheebaja won MVR348 million (US$22.5 million) as compensation for the cancellation of a contract to provide ferry services in four northern atolls. Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath said at the time that his office would ask the Supreme Court to review the decision.

The AG office said Dheebaja has shared a resolution signed by its directors and a copy of a letter sent to the civil court requesting a halt to proceedings. 

The matter has since been tabled in the agenda of the settlement committee.

Dheebaja was enlisted during the administration of former president Mohamed Nasheed in 2010 to provide ferry services in Noonu, Raa, Baa and Lhaviyani Atolls in exchange for 47 plots of land to build hotels and ferry terminals.

The agreement was terminated by former president Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government in May 2013, a unilateral decision that was deemed unlawful by the civil court.

The lower court judgment in favour of Dheebaja Investment was overturned by the High Court last year. But the Supreme Court quashed the decision on the grounds that the state’s appeal was filed two months after the deadline expired.