Former state minister for housing Akram Kamaluddin has been ordered by the Civil Court to pay over MVR 1 million to former parliamentarian for Thimarafushi constituency Mohamed Mustafa.

A civil suit was filed by Mustafa, claiming the cheques issued by Akram for the money he loaned, had all bounced.

As per the claim form, Akram had borrowed MVR 1.7 million from Mustafa, on the promise of repayment. In this regard, Akram had borrowed MVR 400,000 and USD 50,000, in loans, from Musthafa.

In his claim, Mustafa requested payments for three cheques – MVR 300,000, MVR 200,000 and MVR 600,000 – from an account opened under Akram’s name with the Bank of Maldives (BML). Alongside MVR 100,000 incurred in legal fees to submit the claim to the court, Mustafa was seeking MVR 1.8 million in total from Akram, to be paid in lump sum.

Akram, in his response, claimed he had repaid MVR 400,000 from the money owed to Mustafa, to which he said there was no evidence. The money was repaid before a witness, as per the court, however, it had only been MVR 200,000.

Although Mustafa claimed MVR 100,000 was incurred in legal fees to submit the claim to the court, the court said his claim had not been backed by evidence. As such, the Civil Court ruled they could not recover the money.

The court, however, ordered Akram to pay MVR 400,000 and USD 50,000 owed to Mustafa before July 19th.