Author: Zaheena Rasheed

Supreme Court orders Criminal Court to restart trials

The Supreme Court has ordered the Criminal Court to restart trials following the court’s decision to suspend all cases in the absence of a prosecutor general (PG).

In a statement today, the Supreme Court said it had told the Criminal Court that the criminal justice system must proceed in order to maintain constitutional rule.

The apex court ordered the Criminal Court to “continue with all ongoing cases without any obstruction, and continue issuing rulings such as that on [pre-trial] detentions as before.”

The Criminal Court had announced yesterday it will halt all ongoing cases as the PG’s position has been vacant for more than 30 days.

Former PG Ahmed Muizz had resigned from his position shortly before the parliament was set to debate a no confidence motion against him.

Speaking to Minivan News, deputy PG Hussein Shameem condemned the Criminal Court for its decision, alleging the court had not discussed the matter with him or the parliament.

Further, people held in pre-trial detention may have to stay in remand centers if cases do not go ahead, Shameem said.

“So what do they do now, it would not be fair to keep them in there until the parliament comes back to work from recess after three months and appoint a new PG,’’ Shameem said.

“That is one of my biggest concerns over this issue, it is a responsibility of the PG office to uphold constitutional rights of the people.’’

There were no laws stating that the deputy PG cannot fulfill the responsibilities of PG in the case of the position being vacant, Shameem added.

He argued that PG’s office’s work must not come to a halt because the parliament had failed to appoint a new PG.

On December 10, President Abdulla Yameen proposed his nephew Maumoon Hameed for the post of Prosecutor General and submitted the name to the parliament for the MPs to approve.

The issue was sent to parliament’s Independent Commissions Committee and the committee decided to seek public opinion on him before sending it to the parliament floor for voting.

However, the parliament is now on recess and will not start work until March.

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Nexbis gave laptops as “bribes” in border control project: ACC

Malaysian security firm Nexbis offered laptops as “bribes” to the Department of Immigration and Emigration’s staff to proceed with a border control project, the Anti- Corruption Commission has said.

In a statement today, the ACC said Nexbis had given 14 inch Lenovo laptops to senior staff at the Department of Immigration on May 10, 2012 in order to “increase Immigration staff’s interest for the project, and to obtain their cooperation so that Nexbiz could proceed with the project.”

The government signed a concession with Nexbis in 2010 to install and operate a border control system. However, in 2011 the ACC ordered the government to terminate the contract claiming that then-Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and a Finance Ministry official had abused their authority for undue financial gain in awarding Nexbis the MVR500 million (US$39 million) project.

Nexbiz appealed the commission’s order at the Civil Court. While the Civil Court ruled the ACC did not have the authority to terminate the contract, the High Court later overturned the lower court’s ruling.

In August 2013, the government terminated the agreement citing unspecified “major losses” to the state and replaced the project with a Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) provided by the US government. The parliament had also unanimously voted for termination of the contract in December 2012.

In September 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the Civil Court’s ruling declaring that the ACC did not have the legal authority to order the termination, noting the order was made after the agreement was signed.

Evidence

According to the ACC, the concession agreement does not list laptops under project deliverables. Although the concession agreement says Nexbis must provide mobile enforcement tools to enforcement officers, laptops are not included in these tools.

The steering committee in charge of the project told the ACC that the laptops were given in order to facilitate communication between the project’s stakeholders, to conduct border control training and to test the system.

However, the Immigration Department’s IT staff told the ACC that every immigration staff member had a desktop computer and that laptops were not necessary for the outlined tasks.

Evidence shows “the project’s steering committee accepted the laptops as a bribe to enable Nexbiz and gave laptops to other Immigration staff as a bribe,” the ACC said.

The commission has recommended the prosecutor general file bribery charges against the steering committee for accepting bribes and offering bribes to other staff.

The steering committee includes former Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussein Ibrahim, and staff members Abdulla Waheed, Ibrahim Ashraf, Saeed Mohamed, and Ali Saeed.

If found guilty, the five may be sentenced to five years in jail, banishment, or house arrest.

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STO launches campaign to cut operational costs by MVR 50 million

The State Trading Organization (STO) has launched a campaign to cut operational costs by MVR 50 million in 2014 (US$ 3,242,542).

The state-owned STO is the country’s primary wholesaler, responsible for bringing in the vast majority of basic foodstuffs such as rice and flour, as well as other imported commodities such as electrical goods.

It also imports the vast majority of the Maldives’ oil, used to fuel fishing and transport vessels, diesel generators, air-conditioners and water desalination plants.

The company’s chairman Ahmed Niyaz inaugurated the “Save 50 million” and a second campaign “Saafu STO” (Clean STO) at a ceremony held in front of the company’s headquarters this morning.

The Saafu STO campaign intends to encourage cleanliness, a pleasant work environment and efficient resource utilization, STO’s media official Ismail Sodiq told Minivan News.

Speaking at the ceremony STO’s new managing director Adam Azim called on staff to be ethical in using the company’s resources.

“It is my wish that everyone is loyal to STO, and be ethical in using STO’s resources. A place without ethics does not have progress or life. If we are ethical, it is not 50 million that we save, I am certain we can save more than 100 million in 2014,” he said.

“Our Maldives is very dirty. And STO has become very dirty. So we all have to unite and bring out the new STO culture to the streets. From the streets we will take [the culture] to the houses and be more determined to clean things up,” he added.

Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed said all businesses must take STO’s new campaigns as examples.

In November, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom said STO is bankrupt.

“Not only does STO not have dollars, it does not have Maldivian Rufiyaa either. Funding the oil import through STO is now a burden for the state,” he said.

“I checked today where STO is now. By the time I left STO, the company had developed many commercial projects and STO was making MVR 154 million in profit. Today, STO is bankrupt. I am telling you, it is bankrupt. STO does not have money,” said Yameen, who chaired the organisation during the rule of his half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

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ACC orders re-evaluation of overseas student loan scheme

The Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC) has ordered the Ministry of Education to reevaluate the vetting procedures for a tertiary student loan scheme.

The scheme was opened in August 2013 for students seeking higher education abroad for courses that are not available in the Maldives.

However, in awarding points, the ministry’s Department of Higher Education had failed to cross-check if courses listed in applications were indeed not available in the Maldives, the commission said. Some applicants were awarded extra points for courses that are in fact available in the Maldives.

Further, one applicant was allowed the opportunity to change their application during the vetting process, the commission said.

Of the 614 students who had applied for higher education abroad, the ministry had chosen 250. On the ACC’s orders, the loan awarding ceremony on December 15 was called off minutes before it was scheduled to begin.

In a statement published today, the ACC said one applicant had applied for funds to study abroad for a law degree and was initially given zero points as a law degree is available in the Maldives.

However, the same applicant was later given the opportunity to change their field of study to international law – a course not available in the country. When the final list was published, the applicant had been awarded 10 points. The same opportunity had not been given to other applicants, the commission noted.

The ACC will investigate the case further as it constitutes awarding undue advantage under the prevention of corruption regulation, the statement said.

If a field of study is not available in the Maldives, applicants were not required to clarify the specific course or the institute or the country in which they intended to study, allowing applicants opportunity to make up any course in the application, the ACC said.

In December, the ACC also found issues with government vetting procedures in applications for the Veshifahi Malé programme after an investigation revealed that officials had violated the programme’s publicised processes when grading applications.

The commission subsequently ordered the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure to invalidate applications for the programme.

In a recently released corruptions perception poll by local NGO Transparency Maldives, land services was revealed as the area in which most respondents had paid a bribe. In contrast, the education system was regarded as the least corrupt sector.

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Progressive Coalition launches local council campaign

The ruling Progressive Coalition has launched its local council campaign “My stake – development is certain” last night at the Alimas Carnival in Malé.

President Abdulla Yameen said a local council election win was necessary for the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and its coalition partners – the Jumhooree Party (JP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) – to deliver on campaign pledges.

“When we do not win those seats, when we do not receive cooperation from the Majlis and councils, when we are unable to [deliver], then there is no point speaking on the matter,” Yameen said.

In a democracy, citizens must provide the opportunity for a government to fulfill its campaign pledges over the opposition holding the government accountable, he continued.

Yameen pledged to provide services outside of the government budget by utilizing existing resources. Further, the PPM administration will provide promised benefits to fishermen, farmers and elderly through an insurance scheme, he said.

The PPM had promised MVR10,000 (US$ 648) cash handouts for fishermen, MVR8000 (US$ 518) for farmers and MVR 5000 (US$ 324) for the elderly during the presidential campaign. But on assuming power, Yameen opted for insurance scheme over direct cash.

“We must not worry about funds [for pledges] in the budget. These are not things you do through the budget. They will be provided through an insurance scheme,” he said.

Speaking on his recent visit to India, Yameen said the Maldives cannot face global political currents alone and needed help from the international community. However, despite India’s promise of aid, the Maldives would not give up “an inch” of its territory, he said.

The Maldives foreign policy will be based on increasing foreign investment and aid, Yameen said.

He also pledged to strengthen the Maldives’ banking sector, stating that the Bank of Maldives was reluctant to release large loans to one party or to invest in profitable enterprises despite having the money to do so.

“God willing, we will end these practices. There are additional ways for the bank to make profits. We will bring those changes,” he said.

Speaking on the vacant MMA governor’s position, Yameen said he had nominated a “capable” female nominee.

Yameen’s half-brother and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and JP’s leader Gasim Ibrahim also called on the public to grant a majority of local council and parliamentary seats for the Progressive Coalition to allow the government to fulfill its pledges.

The JP backed Yameen in the second round of polls in November 2013 after the PPM allegedly promised the party over 30 percent stake in government and local council and parliamentary seats. Local council elections are set for January 18 and parliamentary elections are scheduled for March.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) launched its local council campaign in December 2013, promising to empower local councils if the party wins a majority in both elections.

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Ten political parties to be dissolved

The Elections Commission (EC) is to dissolve ten political parties in February after eight of the ten failed to increase party membership to 3,000 members.

Councils of two of the ten parties – the Maldives Reform Movement (MRM) and the Gaumee Iththihaad Party (GIP) – had voted to voluntarily disband in December.

The Supreme Court in September 2013 struck down Article 11 of the Political Party Act which stipulates a 10,000 member minimum for party registration. Local media at the time reported that minimum party membership would fall to 3000 as per the previous political party regulation.

None of the ten parties fulfill the 3000 member minimum.

The eight to be dissolved are: the People’s Alliance (PA), Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), the Maldivian Labor Party, the Social Liberal Party, People’s Party, Maldivian National Congress (MNC), and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Social Democratic Party.

The EC has asked the ten parties to inform the commission of plans for any debt or assets before February 7.

EC Vice President Ahmed Fayaz said that while the Supreme Court had annulled Article 11, Article 27 which requires the commission to give a three month notice to increase membership to 10,000 members still stood.

“We sent a letter to parties with membership below 10,000 to increase their members. But these parties are not being dissolved because they do not have 10,000. It is because they do not have the 3000 member minimum,” Fayaz explained.

The Maldives will have six political parties after the ten are dissolved. They are ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and its coalition partners – the Jumhooree Party (JP), the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), Adhaalath Party, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) – and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Among the six, only MDA has membership below 10,000. According to the EC website, MDA currently has 7537 members.

President Abdulla Yameen set up the People’s Alliance (PA) in 2008 following a disagreement with half-brother and then-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Yameen resigned from the party and joined Gayoom’s new PPM in 2011.

Gayoom’s Attorney General Hassan Latheef set up the DQP in 2008. The party backed Yameen during the second round of 2013 presidential polls after it’s coalition partner JP failed to make the run-off.

Current Home Minister Umar Naseer set up the IDP in 2005, but defected from his own party to join the DRP in 2010.

MP ‘Redwave’ Ahmed Saleem established the Maldivian Labor Party in 2008.  Finally, the Social Liberal Party was a splinter from the MDP – founded by former MP Ibrahim ‘Ibra’ Ismail in 2008.

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Majlis passes record MVR 17.95 billion budget

The People’s Majlis has passed a record MVR 17.95 billion (US$ 1.16 billion) budget today.

Out of the 72 MPs present, 55 voted for the budget, two voted against and 11 abstained.

The budget deficit now stands at MVR1.3 billion (US$84.3 million). Recurrent expenditure accounts for over 70 percent of the budget.

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom had initially proposed a MVR 17.5 billion (US$ 1.1 billion), but the People’s Majlis Budget Committee brought a number of amendments, first increasing the budget to MVR 18.3 billion (US$ 1.19 billion) and later reducing it to MVR 17.8 billion.

However, during Wednesday’s budget debate, opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs complained about lack of development funds for their constituencies. The committee met that night and increased the Public Sector Investment Program’s budget to MVR 260.5 million (US$ 16.9 million).

The Budget Committee had also added MVR 171.1 million (US$ 11 million) to the budget of the state’s independent institutions.

At today’s sitting, 27 budget recommendations were passed. These include a proposal by Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim to reallocate MVR 122.5 million (US$ 7.9 million) from the Finance Ministry’s contingency budget to the independent state institutions.

MDP MP Ahmed Sameer’s proposal to reallocate MVR 7.1 million (US$ 460,440) from the Finance Ministry’s contingency budget to the health sector also passed.

According to the budget report, 44 percent is allocated for social development, 21 percent for public services, 15 percent for loan repayments and 9 percent for economic development.

The central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and opposition MPs have expressed concern over tenuous revenue raising measures in the budget.

These include hiking Tourism GST from 8 percent to 12 percent, revising import duties, continuing tourism bed tax for one more year, raising airport departure charge for foreign passengers from US$ 18 to US$25, leasing 12 islands for resort development, introducing GST for telecommunication services and obtaining resort lease payments as a lump sum.

Several of these proposals require revising existing legislation.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has warned the Maldives’ economy is at risk due to excessive state expenditure and methods used to finance the deficit.

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Budget Committee proposes a MVR 17.96 billion state budget

The People’s Majlis Budget Committee has increased the proposed budget for 2014 to MVR17.96 billion (US$1.16 billion).

The committee added MVR432 million (US$ 28 million) to the MVR17.5 billion budget (US$ 1.1 billion) proposed by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

The addition includes MVR260.5 million (US$ 16.9 million) for Public Sector Investment Programmes (PSIP) and a MVR171.1 million (US$11 million) increase to the budget of independent institutions.

The budget deficit now stands at MVR1.3 billion (US$84.3 million). Recurrent expenditure accounts for over 70 percent of the budget.

Budget debate concluded today with MPs proposing an additional 35 revisions. These revisions and the state budget will be put to the vote next week.

Yesterday’s budget debate was suspended after opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs complained of lack of development funds for their constituencies. At the time the total budget stood at MVR17,811,234,380 (US$1.155 billion).

The Budget Committee met last night and added an additional MVR233.4 million (US$ 15.1 million) to the PSIP sector.

Budget Committee proceedings

On 17 December 2013, the Budget Committee added MVR786.6 million (US$51 million) to the proposed budget, resulting in a record MVR18.3 billion (US$1.19 billion) budget.

The increase was for development projects and increasing the budget of independent institutions.

On the same day, Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad said such a budget would be unmanageable and appealed the committee not to increase the proposed budget by more than MVR200 million (US$13 million).

The Budget Committee met again and reduced the budget to MVR17.8 billion. However, with MDP MPs’ objections on Wednesday, the budget was modified to MVR17.96 billion.

Recommendations

The Budget Committee met with Ministry of Finance and Treasury, the Ministry of Education, Aviation Security Command, the Maldives Associatoon for Construction Industries, the Maldives Association for Tourism Industries (MATI), the state’s independent institutions and local councils during its deliberations.

According to the budget report, several independent institutions said the Ministry of Finance had reduced their respective budgets and the allocated amounts were not enough to cover wages. The independent institutions also said the budget reductions would affect their ability to carry out their constitutional mandates.

The central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) proposed a raft of recommendations including reducing state expenditure by cutting down the civil service and holding parliamentary, presidential, and local council elections at the same time.

The MMA also called on the Majlis to reduce recurrent expenditure to MVR10.2 billion (US$661 million) and reduce state debt.

Jabir’s recommendations

MP Abdulla Jabir proposed 14 recommendations, which were also included in the budget report.

These include developing a hospitality college to train Maldivian students in order to reduce the number of expatriates working in the tourism sector.

Jabir also proposed increasing state revenue through leasing state land for 99 years, leasing lagoons for residential and commercial purposes, establish free trade zones and introduce off-shore banking, develop aqua-culture and mariculture, develop yacht marinas and ports, establish a international finance center and opening up reclaimed land in Hulhumalé and other islands for development.

In addition, Jumhooree Party (MP) MP Gasim Ibrahim proposed increasing funds for the judiciary while MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor proposed reducing state expenditure by MVR2 billion.

MDP MP Ilyas Labeeb proposed that the government be prohibited from taking out loans with interest rates greater than seven percent, while MP Mohamed Aslam proposed that directors appointed to state owned enterprises be mandated to complete a director’s course.

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Finance Ministry shuts down 2013 budget

The Ministry of Finance and Treasury has shut down all state expenditure except for salaries.

A circular sent to all government offices yesterday said the annual budget for 2013 has been “shut down” starting today.

“However, once all the expenses for staff salaries are arranged for, and if the budget allows for it, we will settle absolutely necessary expenses through the 2013 budget,” Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad said.

The parliament had passed a MVR 15.3 billion (US$ 992 million) state budget for 2013. According to the MMA, despite a higher than expected increase in income from taxation, the deficit for 2013 is expected to rise to MVR 1.7 billion (US$ 107 million) or 5 percent of GDP.

The government has faced serious cash flows during this year after the parliament failed to approve new revenue raising measures which comprise about 15 percent of projected income or MVR1.8 billion (US$116.7 million).

The revenue raising measures proposed in the 2013 budget included hiking Tourism Goods and Services Tax (T-GST) to 15 percent from July 2013 onward, raising airport service charge to US$30, leasing 14 islands for resort development, raising tariffs on oil, introducing GST for telecom services, and “selectively” reversing import duty reductions.

In April, parliament rejected government-sponsored legislation to raise the departure tax on outgoing passengers, prompting the government to seek parliamentary approval to divert MVR 650 million (US$42 million) allocated for infrastructure projects in the budget to cover recurrent expenditure.

The move followed a cabinet decision to delay implementation of new development projects financed out of the budget due to shortfalls in revenue.

According to the World Bank, the Finance Ministry turned to monetization, build up of arrears and short term T-bill sales to finance the budget deficit. These methods pose “macro risks,” the World Bank said.

On December 16, the Majlis passed a US$ 29 million loan from the Bank of Ceylon for budget support. The loan carries an interest rate of 8 percent and has a grace period of one year. The monthly repayment amount is $490,000.

Opposition MPs have criticized the government’s borrowing from commercial banks at high interest rates, but Jihad has said the Maldives has no choice.

At present, public debt stands at an “unsustainable” 81 percent of GDP, the World Bank has said, projecting debt to rise further to about 96 percent by 2015.

Meanwhile, the People’s Majlis has extended the deadline for MPs to submit amendments to the proposed budget for 2014 until 4 pm today.

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