The British Government has given the title of Order of the British Empire (OBE) to a luxury hotelier who has been facing allegations of an organized crime and corruption reporting project (OCCRP) as partners to the former corrupt Minister of Tourism in the Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb.
Indian media reported that SonashahShivdasani, owner of the SonevaKiri luxury resort brand in Thailand and Maldives, has been honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the British Government in its ‘2023 Overseas and International List: Order of the Bath and Order of the British Empire’.
According to the UK govt, SonashahShivdasani has been honoured “for services to tourism”, alongside charity and sustainability. Shivdasani’sSonevaKiri Resort on Thailand’s island of KohKood, and SonevaJani in the Maldives portray themselves as uberluxe eco resorts.
SonashahShivdasani, however, is tangled up in various scandals relating to the construction of his resorts.
In 2018, SonashahShivdasani and his SonevaJani resort in the Maldives were highlighted in an OCCRP report as partners to the former corrupt Minister of Tourism in the Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb.
The land deals, and licensing and approvals process for hotels in the Maldives have long been a source of corrupt activity; in January 2023, former Maldives President Abdulla Yameen was jailed for 11 years for accepting bribes and money laundering relating to the leasing of an island for resort development. Once built, resorts can be used to launder significant sums of money.
Questions have been asked about how SonashahShivdasani was able to receive the island for his SonevaJani Resort in the Maldives, especially since it was awarded as a ‘no-bid’ contract in 2014 – in the second year of Yameen’s presidency.
Publicly available financial reports from Tropical Island Ltd, one of the legal entities that controls the SonevaKiri Resort, show a current and ongoing investigation by the Thai police regarding the construction of the resort and whether SonashahShivdasani, who was educated at some of Britain’s finest establishments Eton College and Oxford University, had the right to build the SonevaKiri Resort as he did.
According to the local govt land department, SonevaKiri Resort was not constructed in line with the legal safety standards required, and has been under investigation by the Department of Special Investigation by the Natural Resources and Environment Division in Thailand.
The consequences of the resort’s inadequate safety standards were made manifest in the worst possible way in March 2022. A massive fire broke out at the SonevaKiri Resort on KohKutisland and gutted one of the site’s villas. Charges have been brought against three executives of the resort, including SonashahShivdasani. The claims include causing a fire by negligence, causing damages to people’s property, endangering other persons, and allowing others to use the building for hotel business without obtaining a license from the local officials.
In a press article (The Nation, 2 July 2022), RTP’s Assistant Commissioner General SompongChingduang was quoted as saying: “Investigation revealed that the resort’s Villa 63, where the fire started, had never been inspected for fire safety and that the company had been renting it out to guests without notifying the registrar as required by the Hotel Act of 2004.”
