The Civil Court has ordered the Public Service Media (PSM) to stop financial transactions until MVR 4.5 million owed to Artisanal Pvt Ltd for building its executive bureau could be paid.
Artisanal was contracted in 2018 to build the bureau in the PSM building. The company sued when PSM failed to pay after an invoice was sent and the Civil Court ruled that the contractor was owed MVR 4.5 million.
Artisanal filed a case for enforcement over PSM's alleged failure to settle the debt as ordered by the court.
Citing a letter sent by the PSM, the Civil Court noted in its enforcement order that it costs MVR 8 million a month to operate state media. But the court found that PSM does not have an amount close to the figure in its bank account, the order stated.
The court ordered PSM to send details of the corporation's finances, including sources of funds used to manage expenses, before 12:00 pm next Thursday.
Until the debt is paid, PSM was also ordered not to sell any property or asset without the court's permission or to carry out any transaction that could transfer ownership of property to a third party.
PSM refused to pay Artisinal on the grounds that the invoice sent by the company was too high and incommensurate to the work done. The discrepancy was also flagged in an audit and the company had been contracted in violation of procurement rules, PSM previously said.
