Hussain Hilmy, a shareholder of Sunland Hotels Pvt Ltd, was detained under a court order on Wednesday.
While Hilmy was detained at the Male’ Atholhuvehi Detention Centre, no further details have been revealed by police.
In February 2017, the court charged Hilmy to pay former defence minister Mohamed Nazim an amount exceeding MVR 2 million.
Following the dispute, Hilmy agreed to pay off the sum and deposited various amounts of money, on an instalment basis from February till July, 2018, as per the agreement reached between Hilmy and Nazim during the court proceedings.
The shareholder has since paid off his debt to the former defence minister.
Hilmy previously served as the Youth Minister and the Fisheries Minister during the regime of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Sunland Hotels is a travel agency which owns and manages four luxury hotels across Maldives.