LONDON
\nThe 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.
\nIndian media reported that Sonashah Shivdasani, owner of the Soneva Kiri luxury resort brand in Thailand and Maldives, has been honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the British Government in its \u20182023 Overseas and International List: Order of the Bath and Order of the British Empire\u2019.
\nAccording to the UK govt, Sonashah Shivdasani has been honoured \u201cfor services to tourism\u201d, alongside charity and sustainability. Shivdasani\u2019s Soneva Kiri Resort on Thailand\u2019s island of Koh Kood, and Soneva Jani in the Maldives portray themselves as uber luxe eco resorts.
\nSonashah Shivdasani, however, is tangled up in various scandals relating to the construction of his resorts.
\nIn 2018, for example, Sonashah Shivdasani and his Soneva Jani resort in the Maldives were highlighted in an OCCRP report as partners to the former corrupt Minister of Tourism in the Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb.
\nThe 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.
\nQuestions have been asked about how Sonashah Shivdasani was able to receive the island for his Soneva Jani Resort in the Maldives, especially since it was awarded as a \u2018no-bid\u2019 contract in 2014 \u2013 in the second year of Yameen\u2019s presidency.
\nPublicly available financial reports from Tropical Island Ltd, one of the legal entities that controls the Soneva Kiri Resort, show a current and ongoing investigation by the Thai police regarding the construction of the resort and whether Sonashah Shivdasani, who was educated at some of Britain\u2019s finest establishments Eton College and Oxford University, had the right to build the Soneva Kiri Resort as he did.
\nAccording to the local govt land department, Soneva Kiri 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.
\nThe consequences of the resort\u2019s inadequate safety standards were made manifest in the worst possible way in March 2022. A massive fire broke out at the Soneva Kiri Resort on Koh Kut island and gutted one of the site\u2019s villas. Charges have been brought against three executives of the resort, including Sonashah Shivdasani. The claims include causing a fire by negligence, causing damages to people\u2019s property, endangering other persons, and allowing others to use the building for hotel business without obtaining a license from the local officials.
\nIn a press article (The Nation, 2 July 2022), RTP\u2019s Assistant Commissioner General Sompong Chingduang was quoted as saying: \u201cInvestigation revealed that the resort\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON 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 Sonashah Shivdasani, owner of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-387945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n