Government Admits Mistakes Over Biyadhoo Resort Award

Government Admits Mistakes Over Biyadhoo Resort Award By Susannah Peter in Male' October 23, 2007 “Lessons have been learned,” the Tourism Minister said today, after an independent committee ruled that the Government wrongly disqualified Yacht Tours from a resort bidding process. The Biyadhoo resort was controversially awarded to Sunland, a company part owned by Fisheries Minister Hussain Hilmy, in 2004. But the civil court and high court have since ruled that two different bids, including one from Abdullah Jabir’s Yacht Tours, were rejected unfairly. And now an independent five-member committee set up by the Government to investigate the evaluation process has decided Jabir was unfairly disqualified, and would otherwise have stood a good chance of winning the resort. Tourism Minister Mahmood Shougee denied the process had been “rigged.” “The fact that more tenders have been floated in the last two years, with no problems, reflects this,” he said. “The system is clearly transparent.” And he denied the fiasco had damaged foreign investment. “Investors will feel confident that their rights are protected,” he said. “They can be sure justice will be done, even if it is against the Government.” Shougee, who was not Tourism Minister when the initial award was made, refused to comment on the practice of his predecessor, Mohamed Mustafa. But he did say current policies were different. He said he would never award a tender if there were “issues” that needed “clarification,” or “might lead to future consequences.” “I would always wait,” he said. “It’s safer that way.” The President’s Office announced last Wednesday they would be awarding compensation to Jabir, close friend and colleague of Gayoom’s brother Yameen, and a powerful politician in his own right. The Government has not decided if compensation would be financial “or in some other way,” according to Shougee. Awarding another resort was “one of many options.” Jabir said he had not yet been contacted by the Government with an offer of compensation, and added, "I bid for Biyadhoo, not for compensation!" The President's court is yet to rule on a second legal challenge to disqualification from the Biyadhoo bid. Shougee today said he could not comment on the “ongoing judicial case,” brought by a Mr Farooq whose bid was also disqualified. Shaugee said the Government has decided to “sustain the agreement” with SunLand for Biyadhoo, because “terminating an agreement could reduce the confidence of potential investors.” His comments are sure to infuriate cabinet colleague, the Fisheries Minister Hilmy and his associates in the Sunland group. Sunland took out a full-page advert in every national paper in August condemning the Tourism Minister for implying the Government had the power to wrest the resort from their control. Hilmy told Minivan News today "our position remains," that the Government “cannot evaluate something that does not belong to them.” “We signed a legal contract after a valid agreement in a transparent bidding process,” he said. “The matter of compensation is between Yacht Tours and the Government. It has nothing to do with our ownership of Biyadhoo.”