Petition filed at Supreme Court to declare North Hithadhoo MP Sinan’s seat vacant

A case has been filed with the Supreme Court of the Maldives requesting to declare the seat of Mohamed Sinan, Member of Parliament for North Hithadhoo constituency, vacant.

The case was filed due to Sinan's failure to repay a Sales and Leaseback Financing Facility of MVR 3,802,863.32 obtained from Maldives Islamic Bank in conjunction with other parties. The court had previously ruled that this amount should be repaid within six months starting from October 2024, but Sinan has failed to comply with this ruling.

Maldives Islamic Bank filed the case with the Addu City Hithadhoo Magistrate Court on 21 July 2024, as Sinan was not making payments towards this facility. The court heard the case under case number 2024-S2C-CIV-243.

The Addu City Hithadhoo Magistrate Court issued its verdict on 14 October 2024.

In the court ruling, it was decided that out of the total amount, MVR 2,520,222.98 which has been proven to be due to Islamic Bank so far, should be paid within six months starting from 14 October 2024. The ruling stipulated that payments should be made on a monthly basis, with each month's payment not being less than the amount due for that month.

However, Sinan has not been making payments to the Islamic Bank as specified in the court ruling.

The petition filed at the Supreme Court states that according to Article 73 (c) (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives, if a member of the People's Majlis has a proven debt that needs to be paid and fails to make payments in accordance with the court ruling, that member will be removed as a lawmaker.

Therefore, as MP for North Hithadhoo constituency Mohamed Sinan is not making payments in accordance with the ruling of Hithadhoo Magistrate Court case number 2024-S2C-CIV-243, the case states that this constitutes a situation where he should be disqualified from his parliament membership.