High Court issues temporary order to halt border control project

High Court has issued a temporary order to Immigration Department to halt the Border System Project.

The High Court order states that Immigration must halt the project until a further notification or a final verdict is issued on the case.

The case of the Rf500m Border Control System project was appealed to High Court by Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) earlier this month, following a Criminal Court ruling that ACC cannot order to halt this project.

The order issued by High Court today indicates that after considering the reasons submitted by ACC, and testimonies provided by the recipient of these reasons Department of Immigration and Emigration; the Judges presiding over this case agree that Maldivian government and Malaysia’s Nexbiz continuing to work on this project before a final verdict is issued, might result in a situation which is not optimal.

ACC noted corruption in the Border Control System project, and informed Immigration to submit the issue to National Planning Council or the cabinet and prepare an RFP according to their advice, if they wished to continue with the project. ACC had informed Immigration to start over the bidding process for this project, however, Immigration decided to act against this order.