The Elections Commission has fined religious Adhaalath Party and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party MVR5000 (US$324) for submitting fraudulent membership forms.
According to the EC, the two parties had submitted membership forms where one individual had put fingerprints on different forms.
In January, the EC fined the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives and its ally the Jumhooree Party for submitting membership forms on behalf of deceased people.
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Candidates contesting the People’s Majlis election on the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) ticket have submitted their applications to the Elections Commission (EC) today.
Candidates walked with former President Mohamed Nasheed from the party’s headquarters in Henveiru Ward to the EC offices in Maafannu Ward in Malé.
According to the MDP, 84 of the 85 candidates submitted their forms today.
Nasheed said he believed the MDP would win a majority in the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 22. He also said he believed candidates who had lost in the primaries held in late January were backing the winners.
Today, the MDP retracted the party ticket from Ubaidhulla Muaz who had gained the ticket for Haa Dhaal Atoll Nolhivaram constituency by default after he “refused to cooperate” with the MDP campaign.
The MDP has opened up a call for new applicants and awarded the ticket to the sole contender Ali Arif, who had previously contested and lost the party primary for Henveiru Dhekunu constituency.
The MDP held primaries to determine candidates for 56 constituencies in late January. The party ticket was awarded to 29 candidates by default due to a lack of contestants.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Abdulla Yameen has ratified revisions to the Maldives Tourism Act and the Goods and Services Act today.
The amendments were passed at an extraordinary sitting of the People’s Majlis and will allow the government to hike Tourism Goods and Services Tax (T-GST) from 8 to 12 percent starting in November this year.
The US$8 bed tax will restart in February and will continue until November. The government will also be able to collect resort lease extension fees in a lump sum within two years.
The Finance Ministry had initially estimated that new revenue-raising measures would bring in MVR3.4 billion (US$224 million).
However, amendments were not passed as per the ministry’s proposals, and Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad has said “numbers will not match” in the budget.
Additional revenue raising measures include levying a 6 percent tax on telecommunications, increasing airport departure fees to US$25, leasing out 12 islands for resort development, and revising import duties.
(0)Dislikes(0)The ringleader of a nationwide drug network convicted and jailed in November departed to Sri Lanka last night, ostensibly for medical treatment, local media has learned.
Ibrahim Shafaz Abdul Razzaq, 32, of Maafanu Lonumidhilige, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined MVR75,000 (US$4,860) after being found guilty of drug trafficking.
According to newspaper Haveeru, the Maldives Correctional Services (MCS) was not informed of a date for the inmate’s return. Shafaz was not accompanied by an MCS officer, the local daily reported.
Opposition-aligned private broadcaster Raajje TV reported that a “reliable source” claimed Shafaz was not listed in the immigration control system as a convict when he boarded the midnight flight with his family.
Raajje TV also alleged that Shafaz was allowed to leave the country on orders from Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb.
Responding to the allegation, Adeeb told Minivan News today that as tourism minister he did not have “a say in the decisions by the independent institution formed by the law called Maldives Correctional Service.”
“Raajje TV is a very irresponsible media directing all the allegations towards me politically,” the deputy leader of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) said.
MCS officials could not be reached for comment today.
President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz was meanwhile unable to confirm for Raajje TV whether Shafaz was among 24 convicts whose sentences were commuted by President Abdulla Yameen last month.
President Yameen commuted the sentences of persons banished, serving jail sentences or under house arrest “with conditions.”
In the final days of his administration, former President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan also commuted the sentences of 35 convicts under authority granted by the Clemency Act.
Individuals convicted of murder, terrorism, a crime with a punishment (hadd) prescribed in Islamic Shariah, disturbing the peace – including attacking or threatening a security officer or vandalising public property – child abuse, rape, homosexuality, and drug trafficking involving an amount more than four grams were not eligible for clemency, the President’s Office said last month.
Details of the convicts, the conditions for granting clemency and the reduced sentences were not disclosed on either occasion.
Article 115 of the constitution states that the president has the authority “to grant pardons or reductions of sentence as provided by law, to persons convicted of a criminal offence who have no further right of appeal.”
“Operation Challenge”
Shafaz was arrested on June 24, 2011 with 896 grams of heroin from a rented apartment in a building owned by PPM MP Ahmed ‘Redwave’ Saleem.
Former head of the Drug Enforcement Department (DED), Superintendent Mohamed Jinah, told the press at the time that police raided Henveiru Fashan based on intelligence information gathered in the two-year long “Operation Challenge.”
Jihah labeled Shafaz a high-profile drug dealer suspected of smuggling and supplying drugs since 2006.
The traffickers had been using an authorised money exchanger called A J Emporium to transfer funds to Sri Lanka, Jinah revealed.
The drugs were believed to have been smuggled via Sri Lankan Airlines.
Jinah claimed that the network smuggled drugs worth MVR1.3 million (US$84,306) to the Maldives between February and April 2011.
Police also discovered that Shafaz had bought a shop named ‘Charm’ for MVR150,000 (US$9700) that was sold in June 2011 for MVR200,000 (US$12,970).
Moreover, Shafaz was renting three apartments in Male’ and owned a tailor shop bought for MVR200,000 (US$13,000), a shop in Kaafu Atoll Maafushi, and a Suzuki Swift car worth MVR180,000 (US$11,673), later sold for MVR170,000 (US$11,025).
As Shafaz was not in the room with the drugs at the time of the raid and his fingerprints were not found on the confiscated drugs, the Criminal Court ruled last year that there was not enough evidence to convict Shafaz on one count of the drug charges.
However, he was found guilty on the second count based on recorded phone conversations and financial transactions with a contact in Colombo, believed to be the supplier.
Three of Shafaz’s accomplices who were caught with the opiates and packing equipment – Ismail Shaheem, Mohamed Meead and Anas Anees – were meanwhile found guilty of possession and trafficking and sentenced to ten years in prison.
In a speech a few days after the drug bust, former President Mohamed Nasheed said he found it “quite shocking [that] 800 packets of heroin a night were getting sealed in the house of an honourable member of parliament.”
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A special constabulary force is to oversee security at the state owned Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
Assistant Commissioner of Police Hussein Adam and IGMH Project Director Ahmed Ali signed the MOU at a ceremony held this morning.
The arrangement was initially announced last month, with the force’s special constabulary being brought in to resolve ongoing security issues at the public hospital.
“Everyone agrees that IGMH is in dire need of stronger security. We had some thieves walk out with our fundbox, we had keys stolen, we have had our doctors threatened…we absolutely are in need of taking stronger security measures,” IGMH’s Deputy CEO Mohamed Habeeb told Minivan News in January.
Under the MOU, police will provide security around the clock, protect clients, stop thefts and muggings in the hospital premises and will take action against any individual who threatens hospital staff.
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The Maldives Police Services raided opposition MP Abdulla Jabir’s house in Malé and arrested three individuals for possession of illegal narcotics and alcohol.
Local media report that Jabir does not live in the building.
The raid was carried out under a court warrant on Wednesday night.
The three arrested are a 24 year old man, a 27 year old man, and a 23 year old woman. The police found one bottle of alcohol, one empty bottle of alcohol, four bottles containing narcotics, and one rubber packed containing narcotics.
On Wednesday, the police found three packets thought to contain narcotics in Gaa Dhaal Atoll Faresmathoda Island. No arrests were made.
On the same day, the police arrested a 21-year-old man in Kaafu atoll, Kaashidhoo island, with 14 folded paper pieces containing narcotics. Three men in Kaafu atoll, Guraidhoo Island, were also arrested with 39 rubber packets containing narcotics.
On Tuesday night, the police arrested a 22-year-old man from Haa Alif atoll, Maarandhoo island, with drugs and poker chips. A woman in Haa Alif Atoll Ihavandhoo had accused the man of sexual harassment on the same day.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives National Defense Forces’ (MNDF) search for a lost diver has entered a second day.
Mohamed Jameel, 41, was reported lost at 11:55 am while he was diving with two others off the southern coast of Villingili Island in Kaafu Atoll. He was on a boat called Vidhuvaru.
Jameel was last seen wearing a black mask, a black dive suit and blue fins.
The MNDF has appealed to all boats traveling in the area to keep an eye out for Jameel, and called on the public to call toll free number 191 or 3395981/ 3398898 if they receive any reports of the missing diver.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldivian Chief of Defense Forces Major General Ahmed Shiyam held discussions with Indian Defense Minister AK Antony on strengthening military ties in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Shiyam is currently on a weeklong visit to attend the National Defense College (NDC) Convention and the Defense Expo India 2014.
Meetings were held with India’s Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Marshall, and the Director General of the Indian Coastguard.
According to the Economic Times, the two sides discussed ways to enhance defense ties including steps needed for strengthening the Maldives National Defense Forces (MNDF).
During Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim’s visit to India in December 2013, India assured the Maldives of its assistance in training MNDF officials in the aviation and medical sectors.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has ordered public servants to resign from their position before contesting parliamentary elections in March.
The CSC sent a circular to all ministries and local council secretariats on Tuesday stating civil servants will be dismissed as per Article 51 (b) of the Civil Service Act if they stand for the People’s Majlis without submitting a resignation.
A CSC statement said civil servants must be independent and standing for any public election would “contravene the civil service’s mandate.”
Candidates for the People’s Majlis are required to submit their applications to the Elections Commission by February 11. Polls have been scheduled for March 22.
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