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Police testify against president’s office staff member over drugs charge

Two policewomen have testified in court against the deputy under secretary of the President’s Office, Aishath Eeman, after she was arrested on drugs related charge.

The police testified that Eeman refused to give them a urine sample when she was brought into the police station on suspected drug possession in December 2009.

Constable Mahdhoodhaa Saleem told the court that Eeman was requested to give a urine sample three different times, but she had refused.

Constable Thalia Ali also said she asked Eeman for a urine sample, and explained that the procedure was that the person would only give the sample if they wanted to.

When judge Abdulla Mohamed heard this, he said that giving the sample was a person’s own choice and that an accusation could’t be made just because someone refused to do something out of choice.

However the state prosecutor said that the judge had misunderstood, and that Constable Thaila had used the right of the police to request a urine sample.

Eeman’s defense team meanwhile said that Eeman could refuse giving a urine sample as part of her right to remain silent.

The policewomen’s testimony conflicted in the time Eeman was reportedly brought in. Constable Mahdhoodhaa said Eaman was brought to the station around 6:00pm in the evening, while Constable Thaila said Eeman was brought to the station between 9:00pm and 12:00pm.

Speaking on behalf of the president’s office, Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said Eeman was “technically on leave at the moment. We are providing legal assistance for her through the president’s office.”

Zuhair said the case was being conducted by the judicial system, “so even if the person is from the president’s office they must be investigated.”

The Deputy Prosecutor General Shameem said that despite the high profile of the defendant prosecutor general’s office was not giving the case any special attention and was treating it “like any other normal case.”

The trial is continuing.

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‘Jinni’ sold out, more shows planned

Horror movie ‘Jinni’, a local Dhivehi film showing at Olympus Cinema, has sold out five shows with tickets for a further five on sale.

The movie premiered on Wednesday to many positive reviews.

The movie is based on a true story and a novel by Binmaa Ibrahim Waheed, and was shot in Baa Kamadhoo featuring Ali Seezan, Mariyam Afeefa and Amira Ismail.

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Education ministry shifts functions to province offices

The ministry of education signed management contracts with seven province offices yesterday to decentralise certain administrative functions of the ministry.

Minister of Education Musthafa Luthfy signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry and state ministers for each province signed on behalf of their province.

President Mohamed Nasheed said the government intended to eventually shift all the ministry’s powers and services to the province offices.

Dividing the Maldvies into seven provinces was one of the five election pledges Nasheed made in 2008, a move that has met with considerable controversy in parliament to the extent of stalling it completely in the closing sessions of its last sitting.

Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed said the government’s plan to “wipe out” the atolls from the Maldives by dividing them into provinces was against the law.

”The government is physically trying to re-distribute the country – it is not advisable,” Nasheed said.

Nasheed said the president could name ministries, provide offices and give them whatever powers he wished, but there were no provinces in the Maldives “according to the law.”

Furthermore, he claimed it was “not wise” for the president to beginning carrying out the work of decentralising the Maldives before parliament had approved it.

”We hope the next bill on decentralising the Maldives will include more compromise than the previous bill,” Nasheed added.

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MTDC agrees to pay Yacht Tours $3.5 million to end court dispute

The Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTDC) has agreed to an out of court settlement with Yacht Tours Maldives (YTM) after a long-running dispute over Herathera Island Resort.

MTDC claimed that YTM had been running Herathera Island Resort without paying rent and took the company to court. In May last year YTM was ordered to pay US$8 million in outstanding rent to MTDC.

Managing Director of MTDC Mohamed Mihad said if necessary, the board would withdraw the funds from the US$10 million bank guarantee YTM had paid to to secure the resort during the bidding process to sublease the island.

YTM stopped paying rent in December 2008, claiming MTDC had failed to fulfil a contractual obligation to build a channel between Herethere Resort and Hulhudhoo, an adjoining inhabited island, by 30 November 2008.

MTDC responded by terminating the company’s contract and giving Yacht Tours seven days to hand over the resort. In response, Yacht Tours lodged a civil case to sue MTDC for US$47 million in compensation for the incomplete channel and projected losses.

“Yacht Tours doesn’t have the right to stay on the island and do business without paying rent… We have sent them a letter asking them to leave as soon as possible,” Mihad told Minivan News at the time, adding that MTDC would file a court case if YTM refused to hand back the island.

YTM claimed it was unable to pay the rent because the occupancy of the island was low, due to the financial crisis. At one point YTM CEO Ahmed Mohamed claimed 600 staff were working at the resort despite there only being 28 guests.

In October 2009 the court gave MTDC control of the resort, which it claimed to have spent US$55 million developing.

At a press conference held today, journalists expressed confusion when the chairman of MTDC, Ibrahim Saleem, said that the organisation would now pay YTM would US$3.5 million over 24 months including including a US$1 million down payment.

Saleem said the decision was “a commercial decision” and “the best way we found to solve the problem.”

“If we continue disputing this we might have to continue for two or three years. It’s taken too long to solve this problem,” he said.

MTDC would earn a substantial profit from running the Herathera Island Resort while courting interest from foreign investors, he said.

YTM and MTDC sent a letter to the court saying both parties considered the problem resolved.

CEO of YTM Ahmed Mohamed was unwilling to comment to Minivan News regarding the matter.

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Ali Fulhu Thuttu Foundation announces scholarship offers

Ali Fulhu Thuttu Foundation has announced scholarship offers in 2010 for students who have completed IGCSE, GCSE and SSC exams in 2009.

Applications are open to those who have Maldivian citizenship and were born between 1991 and 1993. Applications must have completed GCSE, IGCSE and SSC and passed at least seven subjects.

Those selected will have the opportunity to represent the Maldives at colleges in India, Norway, Italy, Canada or the USA. The deadline for application is 15 February 2010 at 2:30 pm.

Since 2000, twenty-six Maldivians had completed the international baccalaureate diploma through the Ali Fulhu Thuthu Foundation’s United World College Scholarship Program.

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Six men attacked in Faumulaku, one killed

Six men have been injured in a fight between two groups in Gnaviyanni Faumulaku.

According to police, at around 9.30pm last night, six men standing by a house in the Dhoondigam ward were attacked by another group.

The six men were attacked with sharp objects, and after the altercation the group fled the scene.

The six are being treated at Faumulaku Atoll Hospital, and two have been transfered to the intensive care unit.

Haveeru has since reported that one of the injured men died while receiving treatment.

The Faumulaku police are now investigating the case to arrest posible suspects.

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Hospital charges to remain stable despite Apollo deal, pledges health ministry

The ministry of health has pledged that hospital charges will remain stable at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), even though it is to managed by private company Apollo Hospital Group.

Health Minister Dr Aminath Jameel said the hospital remained a state asset “and we have only handed the management of the hospital over to Apollo.”

The minister also said that IGMH would be turned into a teaching hospital, which would provide training for nurses and paramedics in line with the government’s aim of ensuring at least 80 per cent of hospital staff are Maldivian within 15 years. Currently 60 per cent of the hospital’s nursing staff are foreign.

The health ministry acknowledged that IGMH was not at the standard that a tertiary hospital should be.

“Even though it’s hard to accept, we don’t have the capacity within the country to bring the hospital up to standard. We needed help from a foreign party,” Jameel said.

A situational analysis of the hospital will be conducted in the first three months of new management, after which a work plan will be submitted to the government.”

“We want the hospital to have a good management team to oversee the daily management of services,” Jameel said.

She also offered reassurances that Maldivian jobs would not be lost as part of this deal, and that the agreement was within the Maldivian employment act.

The current ratio at IGMH is three foreign staff for every Maldivian, a statistic Jameel said the ministry hoped to reverse.

Where’s the money?

The ministry paints the deal as very good for the Maldives on paper. But what does Apollo stand to gain?

Zubair Mohamed, CEO of IGMH said the deal with Apollo “wasn’t done to make a profit, but to provide good health care.”

Asked if how Apollo would be able to make a return on their US$20 million investment in the dilapidated Male’ hospital, Zubair said money “was a combined investment made by Apollo, the Indian government and the Maldives – not to be recovered, but to motivate the hospital.”

The benefits would be quickly realised, he said, “and after the first five years, IGMH will have the capacity to train doctors on the job as general practitioners.”

Zubair also said that having a high standard of hospital would open up possibilities for medical tourism, a lucrative sub-sector of the tourism industry in countries like Thailand.

“Having a good hospital means doors are opened for things like wellness tourism and palative care. Even tourists can comfortably have a medical check-up,” Zubair said.

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Maldives to ease trade barriers with India

The government will ease trade barriers with India to promote trade between the two countries and accelerate foreign investment. Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed is currently leading a delegation in India to facilitate trade.

Indian financial newspaper Business Standard claimed Indian companies, including Tata, Suzlon, GMR, Apollo Hospitals and Oberoi, could invest as much as US$1 billion in the Maldives and significantly boost the country’s economy.

The Standard also reported that the Maldives foreign ministry will increase the leasing periods for resort development to 50 years and reduce the base rent in a bid to promote foreign investment in the hospitality sector.

Ahmed Naseem, state minister for foreign affairs said “many items that are traded between countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will have tariffs eased on them, and this will make trade between the countries easier.”

Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives, Dnyaneshwar Mulay, said such a move would benefit the Maldivian economy.

“The lower tariffs will make exports and imports cheaper and make the market more competitive,” he said, adding that such a deal would also encourage the Maldives to increase its own exports.

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NGO hold a meeting on decentralisation

Decentralisation is one of the biggest issues facing the Maldives, a group of NGOs said yesterday at a meeting intended to inform the public on the subject.

Transparency Maldives, Democracy house, Rights for All, Madulu, Maldivian Detainee Network, Strength of Society and the Hodehdhoo Association for Development gave out information on decentralisation, an issue which last month caused gridlocks inside parliament and protests outside.

During the last term of parliament, President Nasheed presented a bill to decentralising the Maldives and divide up the islands into seven provinces, as stated in the manifesto of MDP.

Opposition DRP MPs stalled the bill with ammendments leading to quarrelling in the final sessions and several protests. The DRP claimed dividing the Maldives into provinces would affect the provision of services to people, while the MDP claimed it would make it easier.

President Nasheed withdrew the bill due to the heated dispute between MPs, with the intention of returning it later.

DRP MP Ahmed Mahloof said that dividing the Maldives into seven provinces was “illegal”.

Mahloof claimed only 15 per cent of the population would vote for decentralisation if President Nasheed put it to a referendum.

”We asked them to take a vote among the people, and I know they are afraid,” said Mahloof.

Meanwhile, MDP MP Ahmed Easa claimed according to the law Nasheed is compelled to divide the Maldives into provinces because it was in the MDP’s manifesto.

”We believe that people voted for MDP because they want to have what is in our manifesto, so we do not need to be taking another vote on this which will cost more than Rf50 million to undertake,” said Easa.

He claimed that dividing the islands into provinces would bring facilities closer to people.

”For instance, is it easier to come Male’ to get a service provided by the housing ministry or to get that service from the nearby island?” Easa asked.

The bill will return to parliament when it resumes in March.

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