Resort owned by Hamza

Civil Court has ordered Zitahli Resort and Spa (Kudafanufaru) operated by the family of Bilehdhoo MP Ahmed Hamza to pay over $300,000 to Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) as fines and funds owed to the state.

The Civil Court order issued today was on Hamza’s brother, Moosa Shiyam Abdullah Ali of H. Girithereyge.

The court order states that Zitahli Resort owes MIRA a sum of $384,172.68 as lease rent, land rent, adjusted advance payment, and fines resulting from failure to pay this money by the end of November 2012. The Civil Court thus ordered Moosa Shiyam to pay this amount in full to MIRA within three months from today.

MIRA said today that Tourism Ministry had allowed the resort to pay the rent in instalments over a period of three years, and to pay the fine in instalments over a period of 10 years; but the resort still failed to make these payments within the defined period.