The Homeland Security Ministry last night published a list of 1,026 companies that owe a total of MVR 636.5 million as fees related to foreign workers.
The list made public by the ministry includes the names of companies that owed more than MVR 100,000 as of last Tuesday.
A total of MVR 636,534,736 was owed to the state, including MVR 573,840,450 as pending work permit fees, MVR 96,550,286 as pending quota fees and MVR 2,144,000 as pending cancelation fines.
Of the 1,026 companies with pending dues, the 10 companies that topped the list owed a combined total of MVR 124 million. These companies include some prominent local businesses as well. According to the Economic Ministry, five of the 10 companies are in the process of winding up or dissolution.
The liquidation process was initiated by the Registrar of Companies over unpaid annual company fees, which had been mandatory under the old companies law.
Top 10 companies with largest outstanding dues
- Futsan International: MVR 26 million
- Advance Go Construction: MVR 14.6 million
- Brown Builders: MVR 14.5 million
- Hotels and Resort Construction: MVR 12.6 million
- Tumeric: MVR 11.9 million
- Sea Life Maldives: MVR 11.1 million
- Quarter Power: MVR 9.1 million
- Whyte Developers: MVR 8.6 million
- SSB Echo Holdings: MVR 7.9 million
- Island Expert: MVR 7.3 million
According to the ministry's list, 18 parties with pending dues in excess of MVR 15 million owed a combined total of MVR 173.8 million. While 105 companies owed between MVR 1 million and MVR 5 million, their combined total was MVR 212 million.
The Home Ministry previously offered a deadline of June 18 for settling the dues before publishing the list of companies with unpaid foreign worker fees. The ministry said at the time that MVR 1.7 billion had been owed as fees for 102,807 foreign workers registered under 10,617 employers.
