Government decides to terminate agreement with Nexbis

The government has decided to terminate the agreement with Malaysian company Nexbis regarding the establishment of a border control system, and given Nexbis 14 days’ notice.

Speaking at a press conference held at Velaanaage today, Minister of Defence Colonel (Rtd) Mohamed Nazim said that the cabinet decided to terminate the agreement with Nexbis, and gave 14 days’ notice yesterday.

“We gave Nexbis 14 days’ notice yesterday, and informed them that after the 14 days, border control issues will be handled by the government,” said Nazim.

He said that as a result of this system, the Maldivian government is required to pay Nexbis large amounts of money, and that this is not the more advantageous system for the Maldives.

Speaking at the press conference, Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor said that it is difficult to proceed with the system as it includes several legal problems.

She said that Nexbis has been invited to engage in discussions to settle the matter out of court.

“The agreement was signed after ACC [Anti-Corruption Commission] had advised against doing so, and even after it was signed, ACC notified that the project should not be implemented, and also notified to change some parts of the project, by the previous government,” she said.

She said that even if the matter goes into arbitration, the damage of going into arbitration is not likely to exceed the damage suffered by proceeding with the agreement for the next 20 years.

When asked by Sun about the loss incurred as a result of the agreement, and how much would have to be paid if the case goes into arbitration, Azima said that it was not possible to reveal this information at this stage.

In response to a question posed by Sun, Nazim said that Nexbis had billed the State for $2.4 million, but as per ACC’s advice, this money will not be paid.

Nazim said that the government will take over the system after 14 days.

He referred to the border control system provided by the government of the United States, and said that this is a reliable system which includes numerous security features and is used in more than 100 countries around the world.

He said that the U.S. government would also provide maintenance services, while the Maldivian government would have full control of the system.

The border control system agreement with Nexbis was signed on 17 October 2010.