High Court of the Maldives has upheld the order by the Civil Court of the Maldives to freeze the bank accounts of Sun Travels and Tours Private Limited.
The order to freeze the bank accounts came following the arbitration of Sun's decision to terminate the agreement signed with Hilton Worldwide Holdings to operate Irufushi Resort. The agreement signed between Sun and Hilton to operate Irufushi in 2009 was terminated by Sun, following which the Hilton filed a case to Singapore Arbitration.
Following the arbitration process, Sun was ordered to pay USD 24 million as compensation to Hilton for the wrongful termination of the contract. Hilton requested the Civil Court to enforce the arbitration ruling, following which the court ordered to freeze the bank accounts of Sun. The ruling was appealed by Sun at the High Court.
Following the appeal, the High Court upheld the Civil Court order, despite procedural issues in the issue of the order. The judges ruled that procedural issues are not enough to nullify the order to freeze the accounts of Sun.
Sun Travels and Tours is owned by Parliamentarian Ahmed Siyam Mohamed, who is also the and Leader of the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA).