A 44 year-old man was arrested on Friday after he was accused of sexually abusing a six year-old kid on the island of Hinnavaru in Lhaviyani Atoll, police said.
Police said the man was arrested with a court warrant on Friday afternoon at about 3:25pm.
Hinnavaru Police and Police Family and the Child Protection Unit are conducting a joint investigation into the case.
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(0)Police have arrested a 36 year-old man in possession of 20 bullet-sized packets of illegal drugs.
The man was identified as Hassan Azeez, 36 of Farimakoni house in Hithadhoo, Addu City.
Police said the man was arrested while he was at the airport to go Addu City.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested a 24 year-old man after he was found to be in possession of three packets containing illegal drugs on the island of Himandhoo in Alifu Alifu Atoll.
In a statement police said he was arrested upon his arrival to Himadhoo from the Feridhoo, an island nearby reachable in less than two hours on local boats.
The packets were found inside his mouth, according to police.
He went to Himadhoo on a speedboat he had rented, said police.
(0)Dislikes(0)Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has this week discussed the Maldives’ membership in the Commonwealth, urging the country to “rethink the whole situation” in regards to its role in the organisation.
Gayoom’s comments were made as the Maldives comes under pressure from the 54 member state intergovernmental organisation to modify the terms of reference and composition of an independent body to ascertain the exact details of February’s controversial transfer of power in the country. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (GMAG) has said it would otherwise consider “stronger” measures against the government should it fail to establish a “credible” and “independent” Commission of National Inquiry (CNI).
Covering an address given by Gayoom Thursday evening at a ceremony to honour former Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel, Haveeru reported the former president as saying the Maldives did not really have a basis to be a member of the Commonwealth.
The former president also claimed the Commonwealth’s role has changed since the Maldives joined back in 1982. Gayoom claimed the body has formerly worked with smaller nations to maintain their independence – a purpose he now questioned.
“The actions of the Commonwealth have changed since then, to a point where we now have to have a rethink about the whole situation. That’s how much the world has changed now,” he claimed
Gayoom’s said his comments were also based on the fact that the country had never itself been a former colony unlike neighbours such as India and Sri Lanka.
“We were under the protection of the British. That’s a different situation altogether. There wasn’t a British ruler in the form of a Governor General or a Governor in the Maldives. The leader of the nation had been a Maldivian even during that time. Hence Maldives really have no basis to become a member of the Commonwealth as the member States of the Commonwealth include nations that had been subject to British rule,” Gayoom was reported as saying.
The Sun Online news service meanwhile reported that Gayoom also noted concerns that the Commonwealth had changed from when the Maldives first joined as a member back in 1982 to a body representing larger countries aiming to “impose their influence on smaller ones.”
“Earlier, smaller nations had the opportunity to express their interests to the world through Commonwealth. That’s why we decided that Maldives should join Commonwealth. But now things are very different,” Sun Online quoted the former president as saying.
Some government-aligned MPs and political representatives have in recent weeks called on the state to renounce its membership in the Commonwealth. Hoever, the government itself has stressed it remains committed to the organisation and the CNI.
(3)Dislikes(1)The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has announced plans for a year-long programme of events to mark 40 years since the country’s resort industry was first founded.
Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture Mohamed Maleeh Jamal has told local media that the fortieth anniversary of the country’s first resort opening in October will herald a series of celebratory events around the country.
Jamal told Haveeru that the exact nature of these plans had not yet been decided on, but claimed discussions were ongoing on how best to commemorate the founding of the country’s travel industry. The celebrations will be marked as the industry this year commits itself to a plan of welcoming one million annual tourist arrivals to the country.
“Boosting tourist arrivals to one million is part of the preparations to celebrate World Tourism Day and there is a lot more to see yet,” he told the newspaper.
Maldives Kurumbaa Village was originally opened on October 3, 1972, becoming the first resort property in the Maldives, according to Haveeru. The number of isolated island resorts has since grown to over 100 properties, which represent some of the world’s largest and most prestigious multinational hospitality groups as well as local operators.
(0)Dislikes(0)The country’s auditor general on Thursday revealed plans to request police investigate a case involving a private company that has allegedly defrauded the Housing Ministry out of Rf 24 million (US$1.5 million) in a double billing scam.
According to the Ibrahim Niyaz, the company first received the payment for the bills in 2005, but had fraudulently charged the ministry for the same bills in 2009 and 2010.
“We found out about the fraud during the recent audit of the ministry.This case will be forwarded to the police today,” Niyaz told local media.
The company’s identity was not revealed by the auditor general. Those who are negligent or responsible in the scam will be found after the investigation, he added.
Police media official Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said that the police will inform the media when the case is lodged and the investigation is started.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) has today said that any reforms to its composition should be made by a presidential decree.
Speaking at a press conference today, the commission said that President Waheed need not wait on its recommendations before bringing reform to its composition.
The CNI was set up by Dr Waheed Hassan to investigate the controversial change of power on February 7, which the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) maintains was a coup d’état orchestrated by remnants of the former dictatorship and funded by several resort interests.
The CNI’s comments came as Dr. Waheed told the press on Wednesday that it was now up to the commission to decide on whether to “allow new members into the commission” as well as any suggestions to reform its mandate.
Ismail Shafeeu, the man appointed by Dr. Waheed to head the CNI, noted in local media that the “commission was established upon a Presidential decree.” Shafeeu added that it was his belief any reform process must be followed the same way, according to local newspaper Haveeru.
He added that the commission has the authority to independently seek outside guidance and assistance.
Meanwhile, CNI member Dr Yasir said that he does not believe that the President must await a suggestion from the commission to enact changes to the commission’s composition.
The CNI has itself come under widespread criticisms for perceived delays in implementing changes recommended by the Commonwealth and local NGOs to make its investigation more “credible” and “impartial” through cross-party agreement on its composition, mandate and scope of investigation.
The independence of the existing three member commission has been openly criticised by MDP, which argues that an impartial investigation cannot be conducted with members linked to the elements accused of participating in an alleged “coup d’etat”.
However, CNI head Shafeeu today said that he does not wish to respond to any political remarks directed towards him by anyone. Shafeeu was the former Defence Minister at President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration.
“I am here not to respond to political remarks. [But] to present what I concluded from the findings based upon the different statements of witnesses,” Shafeeu said.
He added that anyone who takes up such a responsibility would do it with confidence and that he has nothing more to say regarding the matter.
(0)Dislikes(0)The manager of the Aasandha Private Limited company Ahmed Shabig has revealed that 257 people have reached their entitlement limit of Rf10,000 for outpatient care provided under the recently launched healthcare scheme, local media has reported.
These 257 people will now have to pay for their own outpatient care, although they will still be entitled to other services as part of the Aasandha universal healthcare scheme introduced on January 1.
Shabig told Sun Online that an SMS text service had also been introduced that would allow people to check how much of their allowance had been used.
The scheme has come under fire in recent weeks after its current rate of expenditure has reportedly threatened to reach Rf1billion on an approved budget of Rf720 million. The government has anticipated its annual spending will be Rf2billion over budget this year as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned this week that economic growth and stability in the Maldives were unlikely to be maintained “in the medium term” unless the government substantially cut its spending.
Amid suspicions of corruption, the Majlis Finance Committee announced its intention to audit the scheme earlier this week.
The President’s Office claimed last week that figures showing 150,000 people had used the healthcare scheme a total of 250,000 times indicated something must have gone wrong with the system.
Despite the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) claims that President Waheed’s administration intends to end the scheme, the government has stressed repeatedly that it aims instead to reform the existing system.
(0)Dislikes(0)Dhiraagu has reportedly commenced work this afternoon on repairing a damaged section of submarine cable off the Sri Lankan coast responsible for disrupting the company’s internet services in the Maldives over the last week.
Local media has reported that repair work on the cable began at around 2pm this afternoon in a collaboration between Dhiraagu technicians and engineers from Sri Lankan Telecom (SLT).
Commencement of the repair work has been dependent on the arrival of a specially equipped ship called the Asean Explorer, which completed its journey from India to Sri Lanka yesterday. It is not known yet how long repairs may take, though Dhraagu claims it has continued to work on strengthening services and capacity for its internet clients.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the company said it did not wish to speculate on the possible cause of the damage to the submarine cable that connects Dhiraagu’s Maldivian broadband network to the wider world.
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