The Civil Court has withheld Meedhoo MP Ahmed Siyam Mohamed's passport and imposed a travel ban against him. The order was issued on February 9.
The court imposed the travel ban regarding the termination of the agreement between Siyam's Sun Travels Company and Hilton International to operate Irufushi Beach Resort and Spa in N. Medhufushi. Sun Travel Company failed to pay over USD 28 million to Hilton International for the agreement termination.
The court had also ordered to withhold Shiyam's former wife, Aminath Faiz's passport.
The management of Irufushi was handed over to Hilton International on February 24, 2009. The agreement was terminated in April 2013.
Hilton International took the termination case to arbitration in Singapore, and arbitration ruled on August 17, 2015, that Sun Travels had to pay USD 24 million to Hilton.
Hilton filed a case in Maldives Civil Court to enforce the arbitration ruling. In 2020, the court ordered an account freeze on Sun Travel's bank accounts.
MP Siyam operates four tourist resorts in the Maldives. He changed the name of his main company to 'Sun Siyam' in 2014. The 214-bed Irufushi resort is also operated by the Sun Siyam Group.
