'Nexbis preparing case against Maldives' over failure to meet payment deadline, says MP Ameeth
Opposition aligned MP Mohamed Ameeth said so in tweet on Friday
Former Controller of Immigration Ilyas Hussein denied the charges.
Malaysian border control solutions company Nexbis Limited is preparing another case against the Maldivian government, opposition aligned MP Mohamed Ameeth has said.
Ameeth noted in a tweet late Friday that the Maldivian government has yet to pay off the USD 15 million sum it owes to Nexbis over breach of a contract made in 2010.
The lawmaker said that the ‘deadline passed on 19th March’ and that the government does not have the ‘capacity’ to pay such a hefty sum.
“Nexbis is preparing to take their case against this government to the Singaporean High Court. [They] have indebted the entire nation” the tweet translates.
In December, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre ruled that the Maldivian government had terminated its agreement made with Nexbis to install and operate the country's border control system unlawfully.
Nexbis filed its initially seeking a total of 269 million in compensation for damages it incurred as the project was seized and dragged through a chain of judicial proceedings.
The Anti-Corruption Commission had investigated corruption allegations against Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Saamee Ageel, a director at the finance ministry. The commission made a case against them and forwarded it for prosecution. Ilyas Hussein denied the charges.
The company had then reported that its shares plummeted by 6.3 percent after the commission’s announcement and issued a statement claiming that the speculation over corruption it its contract with the Maldivian government was “politically motivated” and “wrought irreparable damage to Nexbis’ reputation and brand name.”
