Attorney General (AG) Ahmed Usham has instructed relevant government agencies not to enforce any compensation agreements made by the previous government's settlement committee pending a review by the AG office.
Usham revealed the move at a press conference held yesterday to brief the media on the AG office's work during the government's first 100 days. The Finance Ministry and Tourism Ministry have been told not to carry out any transactions related to the agreements, he said.
The settlement committee had been formed by the previous government to resolve contractual disputes with private companies. It was set up at the President's Office under regulations called "Procedure to follow in resolving disputes related to agreements formed between the government and private parties."
After assuming office, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu repealed the regulations. The AG advised that the regulations lacked legal authority, the President's Office said at the time. The President also condemned unfair compensation as he dissolved the settlement committee.
Providing further details about the agreements made by the settlement committee, Usham said the total value of the payouts and islands provided under the deals exceeds MVR 1 billion. President Muizzu had also noted the figure in his presidential address.
"If we are to value the settlements provided to various parties as compensation, we note that the state had given a figure higher than MVR 1 billion as property and funds to various parties as compensation," Usham said.
Criticizing the previous government, Usham said further that the review so far has found that hearings had been ongoing in some of the cases, which could "very clearly not have been won." The cases also included those with specific amounts determined as compensation by the Auditor General's Office, he noted.
"In some cases, the Auditor General had advised a certain course of action or determined a particular amount if it were to go for a settlement, but there were cases that were settled with higher amounts than that," Usham said.
As instructed by Usham, the Auditor General's Office is in the process of evaluating the fairness of the compensation payouts.
Despite reviewing the settlement agreements, the current government has refused to provide details about the agreements. In response to a right to information request from an Adhadhu journalist, the President's Office said the information could not be disclosed because it involved the interests of a third party.
Adhadhu understands that the compensated companies include Millennium Capital Management - a beneficiary of the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) embezzlement scandal - and a company with ties to Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef as well as the long-running Dheebaja case.
