Collaboration with the former Maldives’ Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Adeeb

In 2018 Sonashah Shivdasani and his Soneva Jani Resort in the Maldives were highlighted in an OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) report as partners to the former Minister of Tourism in the Maldives, Ahmed Adeeb. Soneva is a privately held company of Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva Malmstrom Shivdasani. Records show that the Shivdasanis obtained the Maldives island of Medhufaru and its surroundings, now the location of their Soneva Jani resort, via a no-bid contract in 2014.

Ahmed Adeeb, the former tourism minister of the Maldives, leased out over 50 islands and lagoons for tourism development without the public tenders the law of the Maldives normally requires. Tens of millions of dollars worth of these lease fees were then embezzled by Adeeb and his accomplices.^[18]

The allegations against Soneva were later dropped as the processes through which Medhufaru Island and its surroundings were acquired in 2014 were in strict compliance with the legal frameworks and regulations of the Maldives. Before the development of Soneva Jani resort, which opened to guests in 2016, the conversion of the island lease from agricultural to tourism purposes was executed legally, adhering to all necessary legal and procedural standards. This was ratified through official letters from the Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Maldives, categorically exonerating both Soneva and Sonu Shivdasani from any alleged involvement in the island lease bribery and money laundering investigation into former Maldives President Abdulla Yameen and former Maldives Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb.

Soneva Kiri fire

The Soneva Kiri Resort, a privately held company of Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva Malmstrom Shivdasani, was under investigation by the Department of Special Investigation by the Natural Resources and Environment Division in Thailand. A report on the resort's safety standards were published in March 2022. A fire broke out at the Soneva Kiri Resort on Koh Kut island and gutted one of the site’s villas. Incorrectly reported at the time, charges were alleged to have been brought against three executives of the resort, including Sonashah Shivdasani. 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. These allegations were since dropped and the case was subsequently closed. Soneva Kiri was found to operates within the legal framework established for land utilisation and environmental conservation. A memorandum from the Trat Provincial Land Office confirmed the legality of the resort’s land acquisition and use. Following the fire in Villa 63 in 2021, Soneva Kiri reinforced the resort’s safety measures and protocols. Throughout the investigation into the incident, Soneva Kiri fully cooperated with the authorities, as well as liaising effectively between its insurers and the family affected by the incident to reach a mutually satisfactory outcome.

Soneva Kiri Property Dispute

In March 2021, a case (KSL Capital Partners, case number 1:21-mc-00064, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado) was brought by a Swiss businessman who petitioned under Section 1782 of the U.S. Code — which allows federal courts to order entities in their districts to turn over evidence to be used in certain foreign proceedings - for the court to obtain information from a private equity firm in order to pursue foreign proceedings against Sonu Shivdasani his company Bluebay Resorts (BVI) Ltd.

The Swiss businessman Jean Sebastian Ferrer Funke and his company Ecoprivate Business Ltd. alleged that Sonu Shivdasani deceived them into investing in a $6.2 million villa in Thailand and thus filed an ex parte petition for a federal court order to obtain evidence from KSL Capital Partners, a Denver-based private equity firm specializing in travel and leisure enterprises, which participated in a $230 million investment in Sonashah Shivdasani’s Soneva Kiri Resort. Shivdasani was accused of running a scheme that used Bluebay as a vehicle to fraudulently induce Ferrer and Ecoprivate to purchase a Thai villa and surrounding land at the Soneva Kiri Resort for $6.2 million. The lawsuit claimed Shivdasani failed to deliver the property to them, resulting in Ferrer and Ecoprivate requesting access to KSL's documents for use in a contemplated criminal complaint against Shivdasani in Switzerland for fraud and criminal mismanagement, and for Ecoprivate to commence an arbitration proceeding against Bluebay. However, all allegations that Sonu Shivdasani made misrepresentations were dismissed by the tribunal. Some of the tribunal’s key findings were: Ferrer's evidence related to Shivdasani's alleged misrepresentations were deemed unreliable; The tribunal found that Bluebay and Shivdasani did not seek to defraud Ecoprivate and Ferrer into purchasing the villa; and the tribunal found there was no illegality in the original acquisition of the resort land, accepting Shivdasani's evidence for this issue.