Civil Court today ordered to hold the passport of Dh. Meedhoo Constituency MP Ahmed Siyam.
Ahmed Siyam’s Sun Travel and Tours was ordered to pay more than USD 28 million in damages for the abrupt termination of a tourism contract with Hilton International by the International Court of Arbitration.
However, MP Siyam has failed to pay the amount to Hilton International and the Civil Court today ordered to hold his passport. Moreover, ex-wife of MP Siyam and former Director of Sun Travel and Tours, Aishath Faiz’s passport was withheld by the immigration under the orders of the Civil Court last month.
Siyam’s company evicted Hilton International from the Irufushi resort in May 2013. The 221-bed luxury resort was leased to the international hotel chain in 2009.
At the time, Hilton said it had been forced to stop its operations on Irufushi “due to events beyond our control.” Their eviction resulted in several booking cancellations. Staff members said that Siyam had informed Hilton of the abrupt termination on April 30 and ordered the management to leave within 24 hours.
Following Sun Travel’s decision of untimely termination of the contract, the case was lodged at the International Court of Arbitration by Hilton.
The International Arbitration Court on 17th August 2015 ruled in favor of Hilton International, demanding from Sun Travel and Tours to settle more than USD 28 million in damages.
Hilton International had then provided the arbitration court’s judgment to the Maldives Civil Court, after which the court had ordered to freeze all the corporate accounts of Sun Travel and Tours in August 2020.
