AG blocks nearly a dozen settlements of the previous govt
Attorney General Ahmed Usham said at the conference that 10 settlements decided by the previous government are being looked into.
By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
The Attorney General's Office has blocked the implementation of 10 settlements proposed by the then government’s settlement committee in the wake of agreements made between the previous government and private parties.
The settlement committee set up by former President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih to resolve disputes between the government and the private sector was dissolved after the government took office.
The current government had said at the time:
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By the time the new president was sworn in, the committee had decided to pay more than USD 225 million in compensation to various parties
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In addition to the money, the government had decided to give MVR 1 billion worth of property and money to various parties as compensation for the valuation of properties, islands and lagoons
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During the course of the judicial process, five cases were resolved under this policy outside the court without seeking any advice from the Attorney General's Office
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These cases were decided out of court, without even taking into account the points being raised by the Attorney General during the trial process and contrary to the advice given by the Auditor General regarding the compensation seen to be awarded in the cases
The Attorney General and the Defense Ministry announced at a joint press conference on Wednesday that 10 such settlements had been blocked.
Giving the latest information on the matter, Attorney General Ahmed Usham said at the conference that 10 settlements decided by the previous government are being looked into. The 10 were given money and islands as compensation while the cases were pending in the court despite the government having a chance of winning the cases, he said.
Usham added:
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The 10 settlements include the allocation of land to various people to run tourist resorts
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The compensation amount was given for the islands after the AG's office had fixed certain numbers and recommended that specific amounts be given
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The 10 cases will now be sent to the Auditor General's Office for an assessment to see if the amounts of compensation have been determined correctly
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Once that work is complete, we will decide what to do with the 10 settlements decided by that settlement committee
"Therefore, we are reviewing the 10 cases decided by the settlement committee with a team from the Attorney General. We have now asked the finance ministry and the tourism ministry not to go ahead with anything related to the settlements decided by the settlement committee till these issues are reviewed and a decision is taken," Usham said.
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