Malé, Maldives – Attorney Generals Office has defended their stance in giving MVR 15 million to Mandhu College as a compensation for cancelling the agreement to lease Malé English School (MES) building and taking it from Mandhu College in 2015.
Following Auditor Generals report which is dated to September 20, 2020 stating that the compensation which would be required to pay by the government to Mandhu College would be between MVR 1,279,621 and MVR 1,581,475, Attorney Generals Office has said that Auditor Generals advisory on the matter had conflicts with Contracts Act.
Attorney General’s Office further added that Auditor General’s Office advisory contradicted with freedom of contract and standards that establish contracts stating that it must be executed based on agreements established in court rulings to take compensation for direct damages from a violation of a contract with reference to Article 23 of Contract Act.
The statement released by Attorney Generals Office stated that the compensation amount calculated by Education Ministry to be given to Mandhu College comprised of MVR 4,317,500 for purchasing equipment to relocate to a new building and MVR 10,695,000 as rent for the new building as they had been evicted from MES building.
Malé English School (MES) building was taken from Malé High Private Limited which operates Mandhu College by the government stating that Malé High Pvt Ltd was not operating an international school as per the initial agreement made between the company and the government.
While both High Court and Supreme Court had ruled that the government had annulled the contract unlawfully and that Malé High Pvt Ltd could file a separate case for compensation for cancellation of the agreement. Malé High Pvt Ltd sued the government for MVR 18 million initially to which government had agreed Ed to pay MVR 15 million during the dispute resolution stage.
After both parties had agreed on the MVR 15 million compensation, according to Mandhu College, this figure is the amount of expenses incurred by the college in getting a new place to run Mandhu College.
While the founder and chairman of Mandhu college is also the elder brother of Economic Minister Fayyaz, after this administration took office, several companies have been given compensation for contracts and projects which were annulled during the previous administration. These mainly include companies of people related to higher ups of the current administration.
