In February this year, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu announced a mega-project to transform Huvadhu atoll and the south of the Maldives. He announced the development of a world-class international airport after reclaiming an area in the Thinadhoo lagoon and the development of 12 islands for tourism in the atoll.
Although carried out through contractor financing principles, details of similar mega-projects have been revealed previously. The concessions given to the contractor, the contractor's capability, work experience and previous projects are among the information that is usually publicly disclosed.
However, there is no information about the MoU on the Thinadhoo international airport project. The government only mentioned the name of a company and showed a brief video presentation. The island council and residents learned about the project during the meeting attended by President Muizzu.
The government awarded the project to Thailand's Pan Pacific Company Limited. As the USD 600 million project was unveiled and the MoU was signed after a video presentation, complaints about the investor were pouring in on social media. There were also reminders on social media of President Muizzu's promise to connect Thinadhoo with Kaadedhdhoo airport which is only 10 minutes away while he announced to reclaim five kilometers north of Thinadhoo for the new airport.
When Adhadhu dug deeper into the background of Pan Pacific, the company was found to have links to several companies that had done Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Maldives for mega projects. It is also linked to a company that profited off by falsely used Maldives' name.
Businesses named "Pan Pacific Company" operate in South Korea, Indonesia and other East Asian countries. There is a company by that name in Thailand as well. However, the business registry shows that the company is engaged in wholesale clothing.
Business registry.
According to the Thai business registry, the company was unable to make a profit in 2020. The value of the company's assets is USD 27,150. There are no further figures available.
The man who signed the MoU, claiming to be the CEO, did not appear to be the owner of a company called Pan Pacific Company. The company does not have an official website and no projects have been carried out by the company. But, there are connections between the company and those who signed on behalf of the Maldives government.
The company is not affiliated with the "Pan Pacific Hotels Group." Pan Pacific Hotels Group, a subsidiary of Singapore's UOL Group Limited, is a multi-billion dollar company. The company's CEO is Choe Peng Sam. He was not the man who signed the MoU for Thinadhoo airport project.
An investigation by Adhadhu found that the USD 600 million Thinadhoo airport project was awarded to a company that does not do any business and has not implemented such a large-scale project. It is a Thai paper company that sells clothing.
Therefore, after going through this report, it is up to the reader to decide whether any funds will be raised for the Thinadhoo project, whether the project will be completed in two years, whether the work will be actually done or whether only the EIA will be completed.
Ocean Quartier Properties - no work visible, no taxes paid
Maldives connection with Pan Pacific began on September 15, 2015, with the establishment of Ocean Quarter Properties in Maldives. The board of directors of the company are Jirat (Champ) Petnunthawong and his father, Vorachat Petnunthawong. Vorachat is the sole director of Pan Pacific Company.
The address of the company is Henveiru Faamdheyrige, 6th floor, Unit 2. Investigations by Adhahdu found that there was no office of a company operating under this name at this address.
There is no Maldivian shareholder on the board of the company and the company has not obtained any business permit. Jirat's LinkedIn profile indicates that he is the company’s chief executive officer.
Government records show that the company has obtained two islands in Maldives for two purposes. That is Lhaviyani Gaaerifalhu and Noonu Ehdhufarumairah. According to information posted on LinkedIn, the company has around 201 to 500 employees. However, the company does not have a website. The website provided on LinkedIn is either fake or non-existent.
The two islands were named in the list of islands leased for fishing and agriculture published in the government Gazette on December 18, 2018. Gaaerifalhu was leased for fishing purposes and Ehdhufarumairah was leased for agricultural purposes.
Both these islands, under Jirat's company, have not been paying taxes to the state. The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA)'s "Name and Shame" list was released on January 7, 2024, and Jirat's company was named on it. Ocean Quartier Properties is 14th on the list.
Lhaviyani Gaaerifalhu - Sea cucumber project
Jirat's Instagram account, which has more than 600,000 followers, posted a photo of a seaplane on July 17, 2015. This is believed to be Maldives' first photo on his Instagram. He arrived at Conrad Maldives, according to the photo's location tags. He left Maldives on July 21, 2015.
This is believed to be his first trip to Maldives. Jirat regularly uploaded photos of his travels and there were no photos of Maldives since 2012 until that date.
He has since made many trips to Maldives. These include a trip to the 3.3-hectare Lhaviyani Gaaerifalhu next to Hinnavaru. He tagged the location and posted on January 26, 2016, with the caption "Falling for my new Maldives island before constructing some niche."
Apart from EIA, no work has been done on Gaaerifalhu.
On February 12, 2016, he uploaded a photo with the caption that the EIA of his "private island" is being completed before construction begins. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports, the EIA was conducted by ReefTAC Maldives.
According to the EIA report, the project is to establish a mariculture facility on the island and supply the products to public consumption and resorts. The Petnunthawong family will invest USD 27 million in the facility, according to the EIA.
The project, to be carried out in three phases, will include a complete hatchery and lava-rearing system. The land reclamation will take three months, followed by the completion of the cages within three months and the rearing tanks and packaging facility within six months, the EIA said.
On September 6, 2018, local media reported that a fire broke out and damaged “expensive goods” brought to Hinnavaru for the project. As such, 600 tonnes of steel and laboratory equipment were reportedly burned and the company then accused someone of deliberately setting it on fire.
Ocean Quartier said it would sue for compensation in a foreign arbitration court, but there was no further action. The details of the investigation was not disclosed.
Gaaerifalhu. -- Photo: Google Earth
Satellite images show that nothing has been done to start mariculture on the island. The land mentioned in the EIA has not been reclaimed and no jetty has been established. There is no hatchery equipment in the sea and no sign of a building on land.
On August 31, 2023, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih included the island under the jurisdiction of Hinnavaru.
No poultry farm in Ehdhumaifaru
The company received the island on October 17, 2016, according to Jirat's Instagram account. The island, at the time, was under the control of the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture.
The company was supposed to conduct poultry farming on the island. The EIA for the island was conducted in August 2016 by Water Solutions.
The EIA states that the island will have a jetty, administrative buildings, staff buildings, water and electricity systems and a sewerage system using septic tanks and buildings for raising chickens. The facilities will take 48 months or four years to set up.
Ehdhumaifaru. -- Photo: Google Earth
The company has obtained the information and training needed to raise commercial-grade chickens after travelling to Sri Lanka and Thailand, the report said.
Satellite images show that the company has not done any work on the island. The island is located in the same lagoon as Soneva Jani Resort. No practical work of a poultry farm has been done.
The island has been under the control of the Tourism Ministry since 17, August 2021.
A senior official in the Fisheries Ministry during the government of former President Abdulla Yameen said he was surprised to see the contractors for the Thinadhoo airport project. He believes that some ministers in this government are aware that they are not capable of running such a project.
"Some ministers in this government know who they are and their track record. They know that no work has been done on the islands given to raise chickens and sea cucubmbers. I don't know why and for what purpose they awarded a USD 600 million project to them while there are ministers are aware of this," he said.
Maldives Asset Management Corporation "scam"
Jirat Petnunthawong registered a company in Maldives called Maldives Asset Management Public Limited Company. The company's registration number is C03522019.
The company was registered in 2019. The address of this company is also at Henveiru Faamdheyrige, 6th floor, Unit 2. Adhadhu found that a company by that name did not have an office there.
There are no other members on the Board of the Company. The only name on the board was that of Jirat as managing director. However, his LinkedIn says he is the company's Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
The address of this company is also at Henveiru Faamdheyrige, 6th floor, Unit 2. -- File Photo: Adhadhu
The company advertised multi-million dollar projects in Maldives and other countries. But not a single project is visible. The company does not currently have an official website in the public domain.
The company claimed that Yameen’s Vice President Abdullah Jihad and former Fisheries Minister Dr. Mohamed Shainee and Attorney General Mohamed Anil are advisors. The company further advertised on its website that the Yameen government's Finance Minister Ahmed Munawwar was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
The company used false information to advertise by using the names of these people without any notice to them.
The company claimed that they were going to invest millions of dollars in the Maldives and that they would carry out projects on half of the land in Hulhumale'. However, no work has been done. The company existed only on paper and that is still the case today.
A "show off" life and"secret" work
Media reports from Thailand show that Jirat lives a "show-off" life. Jirat is the nephew of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He boasts on his social media of owning big businesses around the world, but most of them are paper companies.
Even on the LinkedIn website, which is used by a wide range of businesses and multimillion-dollar corporations worldwide, he posts his companies that exist without an official website. It is known that he and a few of his associates are involved in the companies mentioned in his profile.
To celebrate the New Year of 2013, Jirat planned a big event in Phuket called "Sydictive Element New Year's Eve." He invited Paris Hilton to Bangkok to launch the event and promoted it as the world's biggest floating stage event.
Jirat (Champ) Petnunthawong and his father, Vorachat Petnunthawong. -- Photo: President's Office
Popular singer Akon was also scheduled to perform on the show but he did not perform and VIP guests complained about the service. The entire event was reported as a flop by Thai media.
Those who marketed the event took Jirat to court due to non-payment and disruption of the event. He was sentenced to one year in prison in September 2016. There are also a number of other cases filed against him.
The Petnunthawong family is also involved in the marijuana industry, a legal drug in Thailand. Official Thai business registries show that Jirat is also on the board of the family's Bloom Medica Company Limited. There is no mention of this on his LinkedIn or other social media.
It is unreasonable to expect a company with such a history and background to invest USD 600 million in Maldives for free.
Thailand's Petnunthawong family has only done EIAs saying it will invest in two businesses in Maldives. No practical work is to be seen. They do not even pay taxes to the state, according to official records.
Does the government not know these facts? It is questionable why this huge project was awarded without looking into the reports of fraud and deception surrounding the investor.
This article was first produced in Dhivehi by Adhadhu's Saaif Shiyad.
