Male’, Maldives – Civil Court of Maldives on Sunday ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to temporarily halt the sale of Eriyadhu Island Resort.
The sale of Eriyadhu Island Resort was announced last week over an issue of accumulated unpaid debt from Crystal Lagoon Resort Company. While the company had mortgaged Eriyadhu in 2006 and 2008 for two loans from SBI, MVR 20 million and MVR 43 million still remains unpaid. For this reason, in 2015, the Civil Court gave SBI the permission to sell the resort if Crystal Lagoon Resort Company does not pay off the loans.
Last week, SBI announced the sale of Eriyadhu resort on a bidding basis with the starting amount at 431 million Rufiyaa (USD 28 million).
However, a statement issued by the Civil Court on Sunday mentioned that a Platinum Capital Holdings, one of the guarantors on the loan had submitted a new case to the court relating the issue, giving the court enough evidence to issue a temporary halt notice. Therefore, Civil Court ordered SBI to temporarily halt the sale of Eriyadhu until the case is completed or informed otherwise.
The request of the Platinum Capital Holdings was to comply with a verdict High Court made previously, which allows them to sell mortgaged property as they dictate.
