Maldives court detains Nekton Mission vessel for due fuel bills
A local oil company filed a lawsuit against the vessel's owner OCCF for failing to pay for 105,000 litres of diesel sold to Odyssey
By
Ahmed Naif
Civil Court on Sunday issued a temporary order banning ‘Odyssey’, the main vessel chartered for the recently-concluded Nekton Maldives undersea expedition, for failing to pay a large amount of money for the diesel sold by a Maldivian company.
A press conference was held at the President's Office on Saturday to announce the successful completion of the Nekton Mission.
According to the order signed by Civil Court Judge Farhad Rasheed, a major Maldivian oil company that provided diesel to the vessel had appealed with the Civil Court to issue a temporary order to seize Odyssey while it was on its way departing from the Maldives.
The Civil Court has issued an order banning the vessel from leaving the Maldives until the end of the case. According to the Civil Court order:
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The oil company filed a lawsuit against the vessel's owner OCCF for failing to pay for 105,000 litres of diesel sold to Odyssey
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USD 186,900 (MVR 2.8 million) has not been paid
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The fuel bill was sent to the address requested by the vessel owner and asked it to pay by the end of September
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No payments have been made since
The court order states that the oil company is likely to suffer irreparable damage if OCCF's vessel departs from the Maldives before settling the dues, necessitating a court order to prevent such damage. The order also states that the provisions required for such a court order are completed.
The Odyssey visited different parts of the country during the Nekton Maldives Mission organised by the government of Maldives and the UK-based marine foundation Nekton from September 4 to October 5. Scientists from 10 countries, including the Maldives, took part in the expedition.
Nekton Mission:
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295 square kilometres of sea floor mapped
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453 hours were spent totally, underwater
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554 samples were taken; 186 species of fish and 201 of other sea creatures
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Scientists from 10 countries participated
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20 terabytes of video footage and other data collected
