Author: Minivan News

Step-father accused of abusing three step-daughters

A Lhaviyani Naifaru man has been accused by his wife of abusing her three daughters, aged three, eight and nine.

Speaking to Sun Online on her way back to her home island, the woman recounted how she confronted her husband when she found him kneeling naked in front of her sleeping daughters one night, but he had denied the accusations.

However upon questioning her daughters she came to know the abuse has been going for the duration of their three-month old marriage, prompting her to flee to Male’ and report the abuse to police.

Doctors have confirmed that the three girls sustained varying levels of injuries in the abuse, she said, while the three-year-old is suffering urinary problems because of the abuse.

Read full story here (in Dhivehi).

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Court extends Gabarey detention

The Criminal Court yesterday extended the detention of Ibrahim Abdulla ‘Gabarey’ by five days after police arrested him again following his release by the court earlier this week, reports Sun Online.

Gabarey is among “nine most dangerous criminals” identified by police last week and detained in a special operation to curb gang violence following the fatal stabbing of a 21 year-old in the capital Male’ on March 16.

Police records show that Gabarey had been arrested 14 times in the past for various offences, including violent assault.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem meanwhile revealed at a rare press conference yesterday that police had forwarded 40 cases involving the nine, 17 of which were ongoing at court.

Guilty verdicts were issued for nine of these cases, said Shameem, while seven were not proven.

Apart from insufficient evidence, Shameem revealed that eye witnesses retracting or changing their statements at trial was  one reason for acquittals.

However, he added, two witnesses to a murder were successfully prosecuted for perjury after they were found to have given false testimony.

The Prosecutor General’s Office was greatly assisted by recently enacted legislation outlawing gang activities and possession of weapons, said Shameem, as possession of knives and swords could not be prosecuted before the new laws came into effect.

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Thasmeen ordered to pay over Rf1 million to PA Nazim

The Civil Court today ordered opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali to pay in a six-month period over Rf1 million (US$77,800) owed to coalition partner People’s Alliance (PA) Deputy Leader Ahmed Nazim, reports Haveeru.

Delivering the verdict, Judge Hathif Hilmy told Thasmeen’s lawyer to pay monthly installments to the court until the debt is repaid.

The judge also ordered Thasmeen to pay Nazim Rf1,800 (US$140) incurred as lawyer’s fees, based on a rate of Rf300 per hearing. Nazim had however claimed Rf100,000 in compensation for lawyer’s fees.

Deputy Speaker Nazim sued Majority Leader Thasmeen to recover Rf1.92 million (US$149,400) unpaid from a loan worth Rf2.55 million (US$200,000).

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Villa sues government over revised rent for picnic island

Villa Shipping and Trading has sued the Tourism Ministry over an increase in rent for the picnic island Kaafu Kudafinolhu, reports Sun Online.

Under the lease agreement made in January 1998, annual rent for the first five years was set at US$1,500.

Villa’s team of lawyers, which includes former Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz, claim that the new government hiked the annual rent to US$47,840 in September 2009 without consulting the company as stipulated in the agreement.

State Attorney Mariyam Shunana however countered that the Tourism Ministry consulted Villa twice before revising the rent.

Judge Ali Rasheed Hussein adjourned yesterday’s hearing after providing the state ten days to respond to the claim.

The Villa Group of Companies is owned by Maamigii MP Gasim Ibrahim, former Finance Minister under the previous government before he resigned to contest the presidency. After joining the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party-led coalition for the presidential election run-off in October 2008, Gasim however resigned as Home Minister of the new administration after 21 days in office.

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Thilafushi Corporation sues ACC

Thilafushi Corporation Limited (TCL) sued the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at the Civil Court today claiming the commission’s order to stop work on the US$21 million Thilafushi reclamation project awarded to Heavy Load Maldives was not legally justifiable, reports Haveeru.

TCL lawyer Mazlan Rasheed argued at court that the ACC did not have the authority to order the government corporation to scrap the project, which was was both “irresponsible” and “illegal” as the order was made before the commission completed its investigation process.

TCL therefore requests that the Civil Court declare the ACC order unlawful, he said.

ACC lawyer Areef Ahmed Naseer however denied the claims, insisting that the commission acted within legal bounds.

Judge Abdulla Ali adjourned the hearing after granting Naseer’s request to provide the ACC’s defence in writing next week.

Heavy Load, a family business of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP “Reeko” Moosa Manik, was awarded the US$21 million project on September 30 last year, and inaugurated the project on February 4.

Moosa told Minivan News in February that the commission’s order was politically motivated, claiming that “there is a part of the ACC that is not free and fair.”

“PA’s Deputy Leader [Ahmed] Nazim is very close with one of the commission members, [Abdulla] Hilmy, which needs closer investigation,” Moosa said. “I am a strong part of this government and I think this is a political trick. I haven’t even been into the Heavy Load office in one and a half months because of my campaigning [in the local council elections]. It is run by my family, my children.”

In an audio clip of a leaked phone call between Nazim and PA Leader Abdulla Yameen that emerged in July 2010, the Deputy Speaker is heard to say that he has “given warnings” to ACC members to issue a press release regarding dismissed Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem.

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Man arrested for 11am mosque prayer call

A man has been arrested for using a Male’ mosque’s microphone to recite the call to prayer at 11am, rather than the mandated midday prayer time.

A witness told Haveeru that the man continued repeating the call to prayer as he was handcuffed and escorted away by police.

“He was looking upwards to the sky and yelling, ‘God is great’,” the witness told Haveeru.

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Indian government permits 32,094 ton wheat export to Maldives

The Indian government has announced the export of 32,094 tonnes of wheat flour to Maldives in 2011-2012, under the bilateral trade pact between the two countries.

India has banned the export of wheat and wheat products to most countries, but allows limited shipments for diplomatic reasons.

The Maldives imports nearly all its food, apart from local staples such as tuna.

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Three DRPS staff summoned in ongoing Gaamaadhoo bones investigation

Three staff from the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) have been summoned to the President’s Office for questioning amid an investigation launched this week into the disappearance of files concerning bones found at the former Gaamaadhoo prison site.

Copies of the documents stored with police also went missing, but were found after several days of searching. The original kept with the DRPS is still missing, the Home Ministry has said, expressing concern that the investigation maybe have been tampered with.

Haveeru reported today that the three staff summoned were secretarial, and included two women and a man.

President Mohamed Nasheed announced on October 10 last year that DNA tests in Thailand had revealed that human bones discovered on the island a year before matched the age and estimated period of death of Abdulla Anees, Vaavu Keyodhoo Bashigasdhosuge, an inmate officially declared missing in the 1980s.

A senior source in the President’s Office told Minivan News that following the President’s announcement, police had been asked to investigate the disappearance of Abdulla Anees in light of the discovery of the bones.

“People want to see justice for what happened,” the source said. “Human remains were discovered and there is a strong reason to believe that something bad happened. However it looks like the investigation has been compromised.”

Amin Faisal, Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad and Mohamed Shafeeq were this week tasked by the President with investigating the case of the missing files, “as this disappearance points to a deliberate attempt to hide evidence to obstruct an ongoing investigation.

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Hotels, guest houses and safari vessels record rising patronage

The tourism industry has recorded a 10 percent increase in bed nights for the first three months of  2011 compared with 2010, a total of 1,852,564.

However while the majority of nights were spent at resort properties – 1,724,799 – this represented only a seven percent increase on 2010. In comparison, nights at hotels increased 25.5 percent (to 60,784) and safari vessels by 33.9 percent.

Guest houses remained a small segment of the tourism market with 7855 nights, although this represented a 25.5 percent increase on the same period last year. Guest houses continued to record very low occupancy rates of around 17 percent.

Occupancy rates for resorts increased three and a half percent on 2010 to 92.8 percent from January to March 2011, and were exceptionally strong in February – only two percent of the country’s resort rooms were empty during this month. Hotel occupancy increase 6.5 percent on last year.

Overall, occupancy rates across the tourism industry varied only marginally on 2010, dropping 0.1 percent.

Average duration of stay for the first three months of 2011 also showed little variation on the same period last year, continuing a slight downward trend of 0.1 percent to 7.5 days per visitor.

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