Appeal court quashes Civil Court verdict of MVR 286 million fine

The High Court of the Maldives has overturned a ruling of the Civil Court which ordered a private party to pay MVR 286 million as damages for violations of a civil agreement.

The agreement was for the payment of MVR 227,570, and the Civil Court ordered in 2016, that a total of MVR 286 million, was to be paid including the payment in the agreement for the duration in which the contract was not performed. 

The agreement read that an 80 percent fine was to be imposed for each day of the unperformed agreement. It is a total of MVR 182,056 per day. A total of 1,572 days had passed when the Civil Court ruling on the case was issued, which is the reason why the fine had increased. 

The Civil Court had ordered payment of MVR 20,000 per month, to complete the entire payment within 1,100 days. The High Court quashed the ruling of the lower court and reduced the fine to be paid.

The High Court cited a motion by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, in reducing the fine. The ruling also read that the fine should not exceed the total payment unless the claimant suffered excessive damage as a result of the unpaid amount. 

The High Court ruled that apart from the payment of MVR 227,570, a fine of the same figure was to be obtained. The Civil Court ruling in the case is the biggest fine ever to be levied towards a party in a case in the Maldives.