The Bank of Maldives (BML) on Monday lost its appeal with the High Court in a case involving MVR 345,200 mistakenly transferred to a fisherman's card.
The High Court's decision upholds a Civil Court ruling that the amount was not a loan, as claimed by BML, but a sum mistakenly issued.
BML asserted that it had reached an agreement with the fisherman, from Huvadhoo atoll, to repay the money as a loan after a technical error led to the substantial deposit on his fisherman's card. The bank subsequently filed a lawsuit when the fisherman reportedly failed to adhere to the repayment agreement.
The case was initially filed in the Civil Court, which, in October of last year, ruled that the MVR 345,200 was not proven to be a loan but rather a mistaken disbursement. Dissatisfied with this outcome, BML appealed to the High Court.
During the High Court hearing, BML stated that it had settled the fisherman’s card overdraft, restructured it as a loan, signed a loan agreement, and opened a separate loan account.
However, the fisherman testified in court that he had not applied for a loan, nor was he issued one. He maintained that the money he withdrew from the card was the amount shown as available on his card.
BML contended that the fisherman had not submitted any evidence to the lower court to prove that the disputed amount had been withdrawn from the card.
The High Court bench, comprising Justices Mohamed Shaneez Abdullah, Hussain Mazeed, and Abdul Maniu Hussain, unanimously ruled that there was no basis to alter the lower court's judgment.
The Fisherman Card, or Digital Wallet, was introduced in 2018 for fishermen.