Dubai court orders MVR 37M payment to Maldives in ventilator corruption case

A court in Dubai has ordered Executors General Trading to pay MVR 37 million to the Maldivian government for failure to honor a contract to procure ventilators at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In April 2020, the Health Ministry awarded an MVR 34.5 million contract to Dubai-based Executors General Trading to procure 75 ventilators needed to treat Covid-19 patients. However, the company delivered only 10 ventilators and failed to return the money.

The Maldives International Arbitration Center (MIAC) had ordered Executors General Trading to reimburse the Maldivian government for the MVR 34.5 million in February 2024. In March, Attorney General Ahmed Usham said the Maldives will be filing the case with courts in Dubai after the company failed to returned the money.

Sun has been informed that a court in Dubai ruled in favor of the Maldivian government in the case on Tuesday, ordering Executors General Trading to pay 8.9 million Dirhams (MVR 37 million).

An investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) found that the Health Ministry paid MVR 30.91 million, which made for 90 percent of the total payment, to the company as an advance, without obtaining an advance guarantee or a performance guarantee.

The watchdog asked for corruption charges against 11 government officials in connection to the case, including then-Health Minister Abdulla Ameen. However, charges were never filed as the case was shuffled between the Prosecutor General’s Office and the ACC, with the former citing insufficient evidence to prosecute the case.

The case was later filed.