Saturday, July 25, 2009

Herethere Case Drags on



US $ 55 million is a sum of money that 99.9% of Maldivians will never see in their life time, let alone posses. But that is exactly what Yacht Tours, the company that leased Herethere Resort from Maldives Tourism Development Cooperation (MTDC), is demanding from the lessor as compensation for the loss of the island, which according to many tourism experts is unlikely to make any profit anyway.

So why do people make such extravagant demands at all? Simple: They often win, as Yacht Tours itself did a few years back when it won a $ 31 million dollar case against Tourism Ministry for disqualifying its bid for an island in Male Atoll.

This time however, Yacht Tours appears to have run out of luck. On Thursday Civil Court ordered Yacht Tours to pay a sum of $ 895,319 to MTDC in a counter-claim case filed by the latter. However, the main court case, that for $ 55 million filed by Yacht Tours, is dragging on as is the Company's occupation of the island.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gayoom was good to Jabir. But Jabir wanted more. Anni duped Jabir promising him he will give him more.Jabir spent millions to elect Anni.Now that Anni is elected , Anni does not need Jabir.
Gayoom was good to Dhiyana.Bur her husband persuaded her to switch from Gayoom to Anni.Still Gayoom has not said anything against Dhiyana.Anni has said many things against her.
(Gayoom was good to Hassan Saeed and Jameel and Shaheed and Aadhi and Yameen. But they all left his party(DRP). Gayoom lost out and these people also lost out.).

Anonymous said...

Herathere can be made profitable. It just needs good management and to be unclenched from the fists of the current squatters who are destroying it.

No one is winning in the current situation. The resort is rapidly deteriorating; Yacht Tours is earning zilch from it; MTDC is losing vast sums due to depreciation of capital and loss of potential income. The Maldivian public is also at a loss, firstly through lack of access to direct and indirect employment, secondly through share holdings in the parent company, MTDC.

Amazingly enough, we've created the perfect example of a non-working democracy! Our "independent institutions" are dormant and incapable of any action. The judiciary seems to lack the desire to improve the status quo. Parliament is full of the corrupt thugs of the previous regime, who in turn have over-arching power over the rest of the country!

So much for the separation of powers! Looks like power is ever more concentrated in just one block!

The government has been reduced to a non-functional entity just gobbling up precious little resources we have left, i.e. probably at the rate of tens of millions of dollars per month! Five years of this type of country, and we won't have too much to worry about global warming!!!

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when you dig your own grave.Less than a year back we all saw how Jabir and Dhiyana was screaming at the top of voice to get a bigger slice of what they thought was rightfully theirs and its not really pathetic to see them in this state partly due to their own actions.