Singapore High Court today rejected an action requesting for a court order to prevent the Maldivian government from evicting GMR Infrastructure, the Indian multinational operator of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA). The Maldivian government recently decided to terminate the agreement entered by former President Nasheed’s administration with GMR in 2010, and to take back the INIA, justifying its decision on the bass that Nasheed administration leased INIA to GMR in a deal that was corrupt, illegal at various instances, and harmful to Maldivian economic interests. Axis Bank filed its request for an order against the Maldivian government this morning, saying that it had given a loan of 350 million US dollars to GMR for the project of developing INIA and that the government’s action might result in GMR’s failure to repay the loan. Axis Bank argued in court that the loan, for which the Maldivian government is the guarantor, might not be recovered, and that the Maldivian government does not have the capacity to repay the loan where GMR defaults. A report prepared by the Maldivian cabinet stated that while the Maldivian government, during the Nasheed administration, had in fact agreed to be a guarantor to the said loan, there are no records showing the amount of the loan in question or how the money, if taken, was used. The report thus concludes the point saying that there are no ways to ascertain the amount by which the Maldivian government should be liable. The report states that the government cannot discharge its duties as guarantor for a loan the details of which are not ascertainable. Today’s decision by Singaporean High Court treated the issue as res judicata, referring to the case decided by Singaporean Court of Appeal yesterday in a case filed by GMR itself, saying that it could not prevent the Maldivian government from evicting GMR from INIA. In the meantime, the Maldives Airports Company, a public corporation fully owned by the Maldivian government, is making preparations to take back the Airport which it operated and developed since its construction during the 1960s. The government has asked GMR to hand over INIA to by this date. The government has also filed the case of termination of the contract at the Singapore Arbitration Centre, immediately after its decision to unilaterally bring an end to the controversial contract. Government officials have said that if the arbitration award obliges the government to pay compensation to GMR, the award would be respected and observed.