The contract with India's GMR to develop and run the Maldives' main international airport was not valid under Maldivian law, despite a Singaporean arbitration tribunal saying otherwise, former Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor said on Saturday.
Azima's comments come days after an arbitration court in Singapore declared that the concession agreement between the Maldives and GMR was prematurely terminated by the Maldivian government unlawfully.
Azima, who played a key role in the termination of the contract as the acting attorney general at the time, told Haveeru that according to the common law, a third party need not bear losses for negligence of two other parties. The arbitration court based its verdict on the fact that GMR need not bear any losses resulting from the Maldivian government's failure to abide by certain conditions set out in the Public Finance Act, she said.
Azima stressed that the government did not fulfill the conditions set out in the Public Finance Act, before signing the agreement. That was the basis of the government's argument at the time, she added.
"Even if the agreement is legit under Common Law, it does not necessarily concur that the agreement had also been made according to Maldivian laws. Nobody sitting as AG in Maldives can still pronounce the deal to have been done as per the Public Finance Act. No one can. That's why I spoke against it even then," she said.
22/06/14 Azuhaar Abdul Azeez/Haveeru Online
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Azima's comments come days after an arbitration court in Singapore declared that the concession agreement between the Maldives and GMR was prematurely terminated by the Maldivian government unlawfully.
Azima, who played a key role in the termination of the contract as the acting attorney general at the time, told Haveeru that according to the common law, a third party need not bear losses for negligence of two other parties. The arbitration court based its verdict on the fact that GMR need not bear any losses resulting from the Maldivian government's failure to abide by certain conditions set out in the Public Finance Act, she said.
Azima stressed that the government did not fulfill the conditions set out in the Public Finance Act, before signing the agreement. That was the basis of the government's argument at the time, she added.
"Even if the agreement is legit under Common Law, it does not necessarily concur that the agreement had also been made according to Maldivian laws. Nobody sitting as AG in Maldives can still pronounce the deal to have been done as per the Public Finance Act. No one can. That's why I spoke against it even then," she said.
22/06/14 Azuhaar Abdul Azeez/Haveeru Online
