Author: Ahmed Naish

A case was filed at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday alleging misappropriation of funds from the Islamic ministry by three high-profile members of the Adhaalath Party, including Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, state minister of Islamic affairs.

In his letter to the ACC, Mohamed Raaidh from G. New Moon in Male’, alleged that Shaheem, Sheikh Ilyas Hussein and Sheikh Ibrahim Rushdie each received Rf15,300 from an Islamic ministry account.

The letter alleges the money came from account number 410 of the Islamic ministry’s account at the Maldives Monetary Authority, which is used to deposit both domestic and international aid to promote Islam.

ACC Vice President Muaviz Rasheed confirmed to Minivan News that a letter had been sent today but said he was unable to provide details at this early stage of the investigation.

Ahmadullah Jameel, assistant director general at the ministry, denied the allegations in the letter.

“No member of the Adhaalath Party has been given money from the Islamic ministry,” said Ahmadullah. “This is propaganda spread by certain people to ruin people’s reputations.”

Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Hussein Rasheed Hassan said the funds were from the World Islamic Call Society (WICS) for four people, the three party members and a Qur’an teacher to participate in an international meeting.

The WICS is a non-profit body, composed of more than 250 Islamic organisations from around the world, funded by the Libyan government.

The Libyan government sent the funds with the names of the recipients to the Maldivian government, said Rasheed.

“I think it was about US$250 each,” he said.

Rasheed said the money was received by the foreign ministry and forwarded to the finance ministry. He added the Islamic ministry’s finance section asked the finance ministry to deposit the money in their account.

“It’s actually got nothing to do with the Islamic ministry,” he said.

Rasheed claimed the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) were behind the allegations.

The Adhaalath Party are a member of the coalition government and are in charge of running the affairs of the Islamic ministry.

“DRP is a name for the corruption party. If you look into any money that’s been stolen, you’ll find them at the bottom,” he alleged. “So they’re trying to spread these lies and ruin people’s reputations.”

But DRP Secretary General Abdulla Mausoom told Minivan News today that the allegations were unfounded.

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The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has suspended Civil Court Judge Mohamed Hilmy pending an investigation by police into alleged sexual misconduct.

Hilmy was arrested in Hulhumale’ last week while he was allegedly undressed at the beach with a woman.

A press release from the JSC states that Hilmy has been asked to stay home until further notice by the commission or until the police investigation was completed.

“Further, the commission has asked the Police Integrity Commission to investigate a complaint from Mohamed Hilmy that police mistreated him, exhibited profane behaviour and gave defamatory information to media,” it reads.

Shahinda Ismail, president of the Police Integrity Commission, told Minivan News today a complaint was filed by the Judges Association (JA) yesterday and the JSC requested the commission to look into the matter today.

“In their letter, JSC said the JA are saying that he has complained to them, that he was walking in Hulhumale’ with his fiancé and police came and handcuffed both of them and basically undressed them by force,” she said. 

In a statement earlier this week, police denied media reports that the judge was abused in custody.

On Saturday, local daily Haveeru reported that Hilmy was arrested in Hulhumale’ and beaten by police.

“In connection with the case written about in that news story, two people were arrested at about 11pm midnight on 12 November 2009,” reads police statement.
“The two had to be taken into custody on suspicion of sexual behaviour in a public place as they were at the garbage dump in the south of Hulhumale’ with their pants down.”

Police further denied the allegation that the judge was abused by police and photographed after his pants were forcibly pulled down.

Hilmy told Haveeru that he lived in Hulhumale’ and was walking with his fiancé when they were set upon by police.

The judge alleged that police handcuffed him, used obscene language and beat him before photographing him.

Hilmy further alleged that a senior police threatened him at a meeting at civil court and told him they would show him how powerful the police force was.

High-profile cases that Hilmy has heard includes Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s request for an injunction against the presidential commission and the Herethere Resort dispute.

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The former atolls ministry has said President Mohamed Nasheed’s resignation was essential for the “salvation” of the country.

In a statement to press yesterday, Abdulla Hameed, ex-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s brother, denied allegations of corruption levelled against him by police at a press conference in August.

Hameed claimed police had made the allegations on the instruction of the government, which he alleged was determined to ruin his reputation.

“I call upon President Nasheed to stop these personal attacks against me and expend whatever energy he has left to try and lift out the country from the dark pit it has been plunged into during his short reign,” he said.

But speaking to Minivan News today, Police Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam said there was not need for police to falsify information as the case was based on strong evidence.

In May, Nasheed set up a presidential commission to investigate allegations in over 30 audit reports on state institutions and ministries. The opposition have rejected the commission as biased.

In the police press conference in August, police exhibited evidence implicating Hameed in corruption practices including handing out bids without public announcements, making advance payments using cheques against the state asset and finance regulations, approving bid documents for unregistered companies and discriminatory treatment of bid applicants.

However, this week the case was returned from criminal court to the prosecutor general’s office, prompting a letter from the president to the Judicial Services Commission to confirm the reason.

Speaking to Minivan News, a court official said the case was returned due to incomplete documentation. The case was finally registered on Sunday.

Hameed said he believed the president was “worried and anxious” when criminal court rejected the corruption case against him.

He added the president’s letter to the Judicial Services Commission was testament to the president’s “thirst to destroy” him.

“Is the executive influencing the judiciary the way things are done in this excellent democracy that President Nasheed’s government claims they brought to the country?”

Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary, said that Nasheed did not have a personal vendetta against anyone in the former administration.

“The purpose of the presidential commission is not to pinpoint anyone specifically,” he said, adding the audit report was a documents prepared by an independent auditor.

A separate three-page statement issued by Hameed’s family yesterday said that the government disseminated information about the case thereby conducting his trial through the media rather than the courts.

As a result, it continued, Hameed welcomed the opportunity to clear his name in court.

The statement said the audit report was released a day before the parliamentary election, adding police did not take up the investigation of their own initiative but on a direct order from the president’s office.

But, said Zuhair, the letter to police asked for an investigation into any reports of corruption and did not mention Hameed specifically.

It added that alleging Hameed committed serious crimes in a press conference further violated his right to a fair trial as stipulated under article 42 of the constitution.

It further called on police and the prosecutor general to provide information and documents stored at the former atolls ministry that would exonerate Hameed and prove his innocence.

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The health ministry has announced that fifteen posts in the health services in the atolls will be dissolved next year, resulting in the dismissal of over 600 employees.

The ministry said on Thursday that the posts were not included in the restructured framework of the health services in the atolls.

“However, before the posts are abolished and the employees are let go, the ministry has decided to transfer those who meet the criteria and wish to transfer to vacant posts in the ministry or the ministry’s sector,” it reads.

The fifteen posts that will be abolished are assistant manager, public health programme coordinator, regional health administrator, physiotherapy assistant, dental assistant, purchasing officer, assistant foreman, laboratory assistant, midwife, cook or cook’s assistant, electrician, assistant electrician, health auxiliary, watcher and ambulance attendant.

Since the number of posts will be lower when the health service centres are ranked and restructured, the ministry said, it has decided to dismiss more employees.

Further, it continues, employees in the posts that will not exist under the new structure from 1 January who wish to resign can do so.

It adds that health service employees who resign will be eligible for allowances and benefits as specified by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in a circular on 4 May.

Mohamed Fahmy Hassan, spokesperson of the CSC, told Minivan News today the commission was in discussions with the health ministry about the proposed changes to the structure.

Last month, the government announced plans to reorder the ranks of the civil service to increase the number of technical staff.

President Mohamed Nasheed said at the time that the changes were needed to government administration to ensure efficient delivery of services.

At the time,Ahmed Assad, state minister of finance, said almost 40 per cent of employees at a typical government office were support staff.

“[These are] not the employees needed to provide the services of that office,” he said. “Therefore, to carry out the work entrusted to us by the people, we need to reorder how the employees are ordered now.”
The president took the example of a health centre in an island.

“What usually happens is there’s no doctor. There might be a nurse. But there are 20, 25 or 30 employees at the place. A lot of cleaning staff and various administrative support [staff],” he said.

“What’s actually happening is that the people who are supposed to provide the service or do the work are not there. But there are people to support the people who are not there.”

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Revised regulations on the use and import of liquor, pork and pork products have been sent to a parliamentary committee to seek its advice, Economic Development Minister Mohamed Rasheed said today.

Following pressure from the public, NGOs and the Islamic ministry, the regulations that were to come into effect today and authorise the sale of alcohol at tourist hotels on inhabited islands were withdrawn by the ministry last week.

At a press conference today, Rasheed said he did not believe alcohol should be sold in an Islamic country, but liquor permits were given to expatriates and diplomats as required by the Vienna Convention.

“When I took over this ministry, I was not at all happy with the way our ministry was doing it,” he said. “So we started revising it. When we started revising it, the attorney general’s office, police, customs and the tourism ministry participated. The most important thing we considered in revising it was how common this had become in the country, especially in Male’.”

Under the existing regulations, he added, 826 liquor permits were issued to expatriates, which led to difficulties in controlling its illegal use.

“We plotted [a graph] to see the [distribution of] liquor permits in Male’,” he said. “When we looked, we saw that the whole of Male’ was red.”

He did not support such a “loose” policy without a monitoring mechanism, said Rasheed, and in the revision process, the ministry received complaints from police that it was difficult to control the illegal sale of alcohol and the black market created due to the permits.

Further, the ministry was told by Maldives Customs that liquor was taken from bonded warehouses without any control.

“So we were studying ways to control it. But in controlling it, we have to consider that our economy is based on the tourism sector and how we could control it in a way that does not weaken the tourism industry,” he said.

Following the publication of the revised regulations on the ministry’s website on 9 November, he added, the ministry received a number of comments and complaints.

Since the issue was tied to the public interest, he said, the ministry sent the regulations for advice from the parliamentary rules committee.

“If the people don’t want it, I won’t include [sale of alcohol in inhabited islands],” he said.

Yesterday, the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party announced that it would hold “a large demonstration” on Tuesday night to protest the decision sell alcohol.

Further, the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) said it would join a number of NGOs in a nationwide protest if the regulations were implemented.
Mauroof Zakir, vice-president of TEAM, told Minivan News yesterday that although he supported the decision to revoke liquor permits, he believed alcohol should not be sold at all on inhabited islands.

“I think that is a very good idea if they take the licenses from them because many have prepared their own bars and have a black market so that will help a lot,” he said.

Adhil Saleem, state minister of economic development, said today that alcohol had become common in Male’ as a result of the existing regulations.

“We made the regulations to change the situation. Let’s talk about the situation,” he said. “We are trying to find a solution because alcohol has become common in an Islamic society, gang violence has increased and our children are intoxicated.”
The issue of selling alcohol on inhabited islands came to public attention last month when Adhil Saleem confirmed that the new Holiday Inn in the capital Male’ had applied for a liquor licence.
The law obligates the ministry to make regulations for the import and use of alcohol, he said.

Adhil said the revised regulations were complete and did not have any loopholes. Hotels with over 100 beds would be allowed to have a bar that is not visible from outside and would only serve foreigners.

Further, it will be illegal to keep alcohol in mini-bars at the hotels on inhabited islands or sell it anywhere apart from the hotel’s main bar.

Maldivians cannot be employed at the bar and all employees of the bar must be registered with the economic development ministry after a police clearance; the bar must further not be easily accessible to people who enter the hotel or visible from outside.

An inventory of the alcohol in storage and daily sales must be maintained and made available to police on their request, while CCTV cameras must be mounted at the storage room at hotel.

Rasheed said police told the ministry the new regulations would make it easier for police to target the illegal sale of alcohol in Male’.

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350.org has posted an online petition on its site to support President Mohamed Nasheed’s survival pact, announced at the Vulnerable Climate Forum, last week.

At a congregation of 11 of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries, the president invited participants to choose survival over suicide and commit to drastic cuts in emission at the landmark UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December.

“At the moment every country arrives at the negotiations seeking to keep their own emissions as high as possible. They never make commitments, unless someone else does first.

“This is the logic of the madhouse, a recipe for collection suicide. We don’t want a global suicide pact…So today, I invite some of the most vulnerable nations in the world, to join a global survival pact instead.”

In an email to Minivan News today, Bill McKibben, the man behind the 350 campaign, which is calling for reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350ppm, said they had received tens of thousands of signatures in support of the pact.

On the speech, McKibben said, “I thought it was the best speech by a head of state about climate change in the 20 years I’ve been working on the issue. Finally someone dropped the language of political convenience and replaced it with the language of scientific necessity.”

Over on Nasheed’s Facebook page, readers have praised his speech.

“Thank you President Nasheed for having the courage to tell it like it is,” said Laura Lamond, while Susan Blayney from Canada said the speech moved her to write to her MP.

Bruce William Oswell Haynes wrote that the speech was the “most powerful use of the spoken word I have heard for a long time.”

On the V-11 summit, McKibben said it showed that most vulnerable nations would “not go quietly to the gallows”.

“It set them up to be the moral leaders at Copenhagen and beyond. Far more than the big global environmental groups, these nations now represent the cutting edge of the debate.”

Although the climate change talks are less than a month away, negotiations have virtually reached a standstill.

At the last round of negotiations in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this month, the divide between rich and poor countries remained more pronounced than ever.

While the developing world are demanding broad cuts in emissions from the developed world, the latter are reluctant to commit. Another issue of contention is how much aid rich countries should given poorer ones to help them adapt to climate change.

In the declaration signed at the V-11, participants agreed to show moral leadership and begin the process of greening their economies but stopped short of committing to going carbon neutral.

In March, Nasheed announced his intention to make the Maldives the first carbon-neutral country in the world and at the summit, called on other countries to join him.

Other countries at the summit included Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Kiribati, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya.

Although they are among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, they share between them the worst impacts of climate change including desertification, drought, floods, storm surges and vulnerability to sea level rise.

The declaration further called for cuts in emissions that would ensure global temperatures remained below 2.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels and that atmospheric carbon dioxide was returned to the safe threshold of 350 ppm.

On 24 October, 350.org led a world-wide protest for this reduction in carbon dioxide levels. People in 181 countries participated by holding over 5,200 events.

McKibben told Minivan News the campaign would now help organise a series of candlelight vigils around the world on 12 December, especially targeted at US embassies and consulates.

“It has become clear that even in the age of Obama, the United States still represents the fundamental roadblock to change,” he said.

To sign the Survival Pact click here.

{http://action.350.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1711}

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MPs from the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) lambasted Alhan Fahmy, an MP from their party, at a rally last night, after he voted against party lines in a no-confidence motion against the foreign minister.

At the rally, DRP MPs spoke out against Alhan calling him a “rat”.

Speaking to Minivan News today, MP Ahmed Nihan said Alhan’s decision to vote against the party was the “biggest surprise” of the day. “I didn’t expect him to do that,” he said.

Last month, the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party-People’s Alliance (DRP-PA) coalition submitted a motion of no-confidence against Dr Ahmed Shaheed over the government’s decision establish ties with Israel.

Shaheed narrowly survived yesterday’s vote; out of 73 MPs in attendance, 37 MPs voted in favour of the motion. 39 votes were needed for the motion to pass.

But in a surprise move, DRP MP Alhan Fahmy went against his party, arguing he had met with Shaheed and found the DRP’s allegations to be baseless.

Nihan said Alhan had told the DRP parliamentary group about his meeting with Shaheed the day before the vote.

He added he had tried to persuade Alhan to vote along party lines, arguing that many of the documents offered up by Shaheed were probably fabricated.

After the opposition submitted the no-confidence motion, Shaheed made public copies of agreements for diplomatic ties and other documents, proving the former government had decided to normalise relations with Israel in June 1994.
An angry crowd of DRP supporters protested outside Alhan’s residence from 12pm onwards today.

At the rally, Nihan and Thohdhoo MP Ali Waheed called on the DRP to take action against Alhan.

“He defied the party rules, the three-line whip so obviously there has to be some kind of action…he won’t be removed from the party without being given the chance to defend himself,” said Nihan.

He added that Alhan had betrayed the party and it would have been better to abstain from voting.

“I don’t believe it’s a big blow politically to the party because Shaheed was made to explain in front of the whole Majlis yesterday about establishing ties with Israel. It was DRP who won yesterday, not MDP,” he said.

But, said Eva Abdulla, an MP from the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), parliament’s rules of procedure had clear guidelines on questioning ministers during question time.

“Surely that would’ve been a good starting point and much less resource-consuming?” she said.

Alhan told Minivan News today that he was still a member of the DRP and had no plans to defect to MDP. He further said the opposition should not submit no-confidence motions for political reasons.

On the DRP rally, he said he had spoken to Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, the party’s deputy leader, and asked him to try and stop other MPs from speaking out against him with such “hatred” and “emotion”.

“They can take action against me. The council has a due process and has the authority even to expel me from the party after they study the case,” he said.

At the rally, MPs also said that two independent MPs, Mohamed Nasheed and Ibrahim Muttalib, had also reneged on their decision to support the vote.

Nihan said although the motion was initiated by DRP, it was “tremendously” supported by Nasheed.

“He was there to help us beyond the formal talks and gave us support…we are quite shocked. It’s immature behaviour,” he said. “I thought he was totally engaged, even Muttalib.”

Nasheed told Minivan News he did not wish to comment.

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The opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) alleged yesterday the ruling party threatened two of their MPs to ensure they voted against the no-confidence motion against Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed yesterday.

The DQP said it regretted the decision made by Riyaz Rasheed and Hassan Adhil to vote against the party line.

“They told the party leaders that senior MDP leaders from the president himself threatened them with unimaginable restrictions on their businesses if they participated in the vote and told them they would get benefits for their businesses if they did not participate in the vote of no-confidence against Dr Ahmed Shaheed,” said a statement from the party.

The statement said the party regretted such “wicked and dictatorial” behaviour from a government that came to power promising democratic, good governance.

“The party believes that if today’s vote of no-confidence against Dr Ahmed Shaheed was successful there is no doubt that the ‘brutal rule’ of President Nasheed that is unprincipled and outside of legal bounds could have been brought within the bounds and the path would have been paved to hold the government accountable,” it concludes.

Last month, the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party-People’s Alliance (DRP-PA) coalition submitted a motion of no-confidence against Shaheed for allegedly misleading the public over the government’s decision to renew diplomatic ties with Israel.

Shaheed narrowly survived yesterday’s vote; out of 73 MPs in attendance, 37 MPs voted in favour of the motion. 39 votes were needed for the motion to pass.
In a text message to Minivan News today, MDP MP Eva Abdullah said the DQP needed to do some “soul-searching” if their own MPs had decided to vote against them.

“Also Adhil and Riyaz were clearly not going to be manipulated into entertaining an obviously flawed judgement in tabling this motion in the first place and this is precisely what Riyaz expressed yesterday on the floor,” said Eva.

During yesterday’s sitting, Riyaz said he suggested parliament looked into the details of diplomatic relations with Israel when a motion without notice on the issue was debated last month.

“I said then that as the People’s Majlis we have the power and authority to find out to what extent these ties had been established,” he said.

He called on the government to issue a statement to clear the issue up as it was a serious concern and he did not want to waste parliament’s time.

Riyaz said it was questionable whether the vote of no-confidence against Shaheed was justified, adding there were other cabinet ministers who were more deserving of removal from office.

He added he was among the MPs that campaigned to hold the government accountable and in this case parliament should have studied the matter before the vote.

“I know Dr Shaheed very well. I can’t believe that he would do something that would lead to Islam being wiped out from among us,” he said.

Addressing members at the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Nasheed said the Maldives would make use of diplomatic ties to assert its support for an “independent and sovereign” Palestinian homeland.

“We believe dialogue and constructive engagement serve the cause of peace better than ostracism and isolation,” he said.

At the sidelines of the Assembly, the Maldives signed three Memorandums of Understanding with Israel to collaborate in health, education and tourism.

The announcement sparked outrage among opposition and religious groups. Speaking to MPs yesterday, Shaheed denied full diplomatic ties had been established with Israel.

He further offered copies of agreements for diplomatic ties and other documents proving the former government decided to normalise relations with Israel in June 1994 under three phases.

Shaheed argued the no-confidence motion could only be justified in cases where a minister had committed a serious crime or grossly neglected his duties and the opposition’s motion did not cite specific examples to back up their claims.

Shaheed said MPs could have either questioned him at parliament, summoned him to committee or sent him a letter to clear up their questions on the issue before resorting to a vote of no-confidence.

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