The Civil Court has ordered Skybiz Investment’s CEO, Mohamed Husham, to pay over MVR 2 million in compensation for failing to deliver 15 cars to the Finance Ministry by the agreed deadline.
The State had initially demanded liquidated damages of MVR 2 million due to the company’s failure to meet the delivery timeline as per their agreement.
Husham attributed the delay in supplying the cars to unforeseen circumstances. He informed the ministry in a letter, dated August 14, 2017, that the delivery was delayed due to technical errors during shipping and adverse weather conditions.
However, the court found that despite being granted two deadline extensions, the company still failed to supply the vehicles on time. Husham explained that the subsequent delay was caused by difficulties encountered with customs clearance for the vehicles brought into the country. He did not request any further deadline extensions.
The court noted that the delay in customs clearance stemmed from the company’s request to revise the Customs’ decision on the duty value amount proposed by Skybiz Investment. While acknowledging that the customs clearance period was beyond the company’s control, the court highlighted that Husham did not indicate this as an abnormal occurrence.
Furthermore, the ruling stated that there was no convincing reason to believe the challenges in vehicle clearance were unexpected. It also noted that the defendant failed to provide a valid rationale for not requesting an additional deadline extension from the Ministry, as was previously done.
As a result, the court ruled in favour of the State, citing Husham’s lack of challenge to the state’s claim for compensation under the Finance Act and the absence of a basis to dispute the compensation as per the agreement. The court ordered that the total sum be reimbursed before the first of March, holding Skybiz Investment accountable for the breach of contract.
