Civil Court decides against Reeko Moosa in defaulted contract case

Civil Court of the Maldives has today made a decision, ordering Moosa “Reeko” Manik, the Interim Chairperson of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), to pay up 2.9 Maldivian Rufiyaa to the Asian Branch of the American Company Caterpillar Financial Services.

Caterpillar filed lawsuit against the prominent leader of MDP and the party’s former Parliamentary Group Leader, on 19th February 2007, when Heavyload Maldives, a company owned by Moosa, defaulted in repayment of a loan amounting to 700,000 US Dollars, that the company had issued to Heavyload. The guarantor to the loan was Moosa, and the lawsuit was filed to obtain the unpaid amount, amounting to 2,921,257 Maldivian Rufiyaa.

Reeko Moosa’s lawyers claimed that the loan was fully paid by Heavyload Maldives. However, Judge Mariyam Nihaayath said that Reeko’s lawyers could not produce enough evidence to prove on a balance of probabilities that the loan amount was fully repaid.

The decision of the court made it incumbent upon Moosa to pay up the whole amount over a period of three months starting from today.