‼️🚨Breaking News (with documents)
The documents presented here, the MIRA payment slip and photographs of the executed lease agreement, show that three islands in Thaa Atoll, Fushi (LD0471), Kani (LD0759) and Vanbandhi (LD0460), were leased together to Ayatana Hospitalities Private Limited for a lease acquisition cost of just USD 864,000 for all three combined. The MIRA slip shows this sum was paid in cash. These three islands are Muizzu's own resort project, with his nephew, Hassan Waheed, serving as the front through which his interest is held.
Consider what that figure actually buys. Three whole islands, Fushi, Kani and Vanbandhi, bundled together and handed over for USD 864,000, paid in cash. Not one island, three, for a sum that would not come close to the market value of a single undeveloped island anywhere in the Maldives, let alone three with resort potential. This is not a discount, it is the theft of national assets in plain sight. The only way three islands could be signed away for so little is that these are Muizzu's own three resorts and the state was selling to itself.
This is not an arm's length deal. Hassan Waheed is acting as Muizzu's proxy, together with their Indian partners, which is precisely why the pricing bears no relation to the published rates. Muizzu's own family stood on both sides of this transaction, the gov granting the lease and his nephew receiving it. Muizzu met them in Dubai first and again in Maldives, with the partners back in Maldives to meet him once more (I'm told).
The agreement, dated 16 February 2026, leases the three islands to his proxy company for a period of 50 years for the development, operation and management of a tourist resort. The acquisition cost, it provides for a Corporate Social Responsibility contribution of USD 500,000, payable in three equal instalments within 18 months of the commencement date and for lease rent payable quarterly in advance, with liquidated damages of 0.0493% per day on any arrears. The favours do not stop at the price. The agreement also hands the lessee a generous grace period on rent - no lease rent falls due for the first 36 months from the commencement date and the lessee may defer rent altogether until the end of the construction period. Three years of holding three islands before a single USD of rent is owed, on top of an acquisition cost that is itself a fraction of their worth. Fifty years of resort revenue from three islands, handed to the President's own family for an upfront cash sum of just 864,000. Every one of these favourable terms accrues, in substance, to his own three resorts.
These three islands were previously leased to Clear Sand Private Limited. That lease was terminated in 2016, during President Yameen's gov. Ministry of Tourism has itself acknowledged, in documented correspondence predating any later agreement, that the 2016 termination was unlawful. On that basis, the Clear Sand lease was subsequently reinstated under President Solih's gov.
Muizzu's gov has since sought to unwind a number of arrangements entered into under the previous gov, on the argument that the underlying policy was unconstitutional. But that reasoning does not reach the reinstated Clear Sand lease. The reinstatement was not grounded in that policy. It was grounded in the Ministry's own acknowledgement that the 2016 termination was illegal in the first place. The gov has not addressed, let alone cured, that original illegality. It has simply terminated the lease a second time and handed the islands to Ayatana, the vehicle for the Muizzu's three resorts.
Cause the original 2016 termination was unlawful and remains unremedied, the islands arguably still belong, in law, to Clear Sand. Leasing them to the President's nephew does not change that. In effect, the gov has re leased islands it may not have been free to re lease, in order to deliver three resorts to the President's own family and at a price that robs the public purse.
Any party investing in or partnering on this project should understand the risk they are taking on. This lease rests on an unlawful termination that has never been remedied, on contested title and on terms, a token price, a cash payment and years of rent free grace, that plainly do not reflect the value of the islands. On those grounds, there is every reason to expect a future gov (as soon as 2028) to move to terminate it and strong legal footing to do so. Clear Sand retains a live claim to the islands and SHC lawyers familiar with the matter share the assessment that the grounds for challenge are substantial. Anyone putting money into these three islands is partnering with Muizzu's proxy on contested title, on assets acquired for a fraction of their worth and should treat this arrangement as one that is likely to be undone.