Debtee seeks settlement of Ashfaq’s decade-old debt via asset liquidation

UMET Construction has requested the court to recover the outstanding dues from MVR 1.4 million owed by Ali Ashfaq—former national team captain and widely regarded as the best football player in the Maldives—through the liquidation of his assets.

In 2015, UMET filed a civil lawsuit against Ashfaq and his former team, VB Sports — now dissolved — seeking payment of MVR 1.4 million under an agreement for the construction of two floors in a building overseen by Ashfaq.

The Civil Court ordered Ashfaq and VB Sports to pay the outstanding amount within six months. However, court documents indicate that only MVR 1 million of the debt has been paid to date.

So far, the payments toward the decade-old debt have come from Ashfaq. In a subsequent debt recovery case, UMET requested the court to recover the remaining MVR 415,225 from him through asset liquidation.

The court, however, deemed Ashfaq capable of paying the amount and ordered him to settle it within six months.

Civil Court Judge Mariyam Waheed, who presided over the case, ordered Ashfaq to complete the payment by June next year.

Ashfaq has previously unsuccessfully appealed the case to the High Court, which had ruled against him.