Supreme court accepts case to review Dheebaajaa verdict
The AGO submitted the request to appeal the Dheebaja case verdict to the Supreme Court on January 22nd
Attorney General, Ibrahim Riffath | Presidents Office
The Supreme Court has accepted a case from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) seeking to review the verdict issued in the State vs. Dheebaajaa case.
The AGO submitted the request to appeal the Dheebaaajaa case verdict to the Supreme Court on January 22nd and the case was accepted since it fit the court's rules and regulations.
The Supreme Court ordered the state to compensate the company MVR 348.10 million for violating an agreement with Dheebaajaa in April last year.
The Ministry of Economics contracted Dheebaajaa Investments to provide ferry services to four atolls in the Northern Province, during former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration in 2010. However, the agreement was annulled in 2013, during the presidency of Mohamed Waheed, over allegations of contractual violations.
Following the annulment, Dheebaajaa headed to Civil Court seeking MVR 348 million in compensation and the court ruled in the company's favour.
The order was appealed at the High Court on 17th May 2015, who overturned the lower court verdict on 26th June 2018. However, the Supreme Court upheld the Civil Court verdict on 17th April 2019.
As such, the state and Dheebaajaa have agreed to lower the compensation amount by half to MVR174 million, which both the president's office and the attorney general's office claimed was a much better option.
Nevertheless, whether the state has paid off its debt to Dheebaajaa or not is yet to be confirmed.
