Malé, Maldives – An earlier sentencing to the state to pay Vimla Construction MVR 78 million for the homes they built after the 2004 tsunami disaster, has been annulled by the Maldivian High Court.
In 2016, the Maldivian Civil Court ordered the state to pay MVR 78 million to Vimla Construction for homes they built in 3 wards of GA. Atoll after the company pressed charges due to no payment from the state. This sentence was appealed by the state in High Court during Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s time in office.
In today’s sentencing by the High Court, the court stated that as per the agreement between Vimla Construction and the Maldivian Government, the issue should be resolved after both parties discuss the matter outside court. If this is not possible, the matter should be resolved through the Ministry of Finance’s Tender and Evaluation board as the adjudicator.
The court noted that if the adjudicator’s stance on the issue is unsatisfactory, the agreement states that the issue should then be investigated through arbitration.
The High Court noted that they have previously decided that cases cannot be submitted without fulfilling necessary processes.
They added that the agreement states that payments to invoices can only be released after the project manager approves these invoices, and that the previous sentence to pay the owed MVR 78 million was issued before the project manager signed these invoices.
Head Judge Hathif Hilmy, Judge Shuaib Hussain Zakariyya and Judge Hussain Shaheed unanimously agreed that the previous sentence to pay the owed MVR 78 million was issued without referencing the agreement between the state and Vimla, and thus annulling the sentence.
