The details and expenses for two international experts involved in Maldives' efforts to appeal a judgment by the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) that caused the loss of territorial waters in the south of the Maldives have been kept confidential.
Adhadhu requested the information under the Right to Information law, but the Attorney General's Office refused to provide the details, citing a provision for confidentiality of the names and expenses in the agreement signed with the international experts.
The Attorney General's Office stated that the Right to Information law allows authorities to withhold requested information if there is a risk of the government being sued for breach of confidentiality.
The government had earlier said it was preparing a paper with a Maltese professor on the Chagos dispute. A British expert is also working on the project, the government said.
An international court needed to demarcate a maritime boundary between the Maldives and Mauritius after Chagos was deemed to be part of Mauritius. The Maldives previously argued that Chagos was not part of Mauritius but later changed the stance.
In its response to Adhadhu, the Attorney General's Office added that the experts were appointed on a single-source procurement basis as in other similar cases.
Former Attorney General Mohamed Anil is working on the case as a Maldivian expert. He also chairs the committee set up by the government. According to the government, he is doing this work free of charge.
The government announced on January 14 that the Attorney General's Office has received the first copy of the paper compiled by international experts.
"The final report will be submitted to the Cabinet by the end of February," President's Office Public Policy Secretary Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim said during a press conference.
