Category: News in Brief

Public outrage in Addu prompts “Stop Abuse” vehicle rally

A vehicle rally with the slogan “Stop Abuse” took place in Addu City yesterday in the wake of public shock and outrage over the brutal rape of a 74 year-old woman in Hithadhoo last week.

Haveeru reports that local NGOs, businesses and state enterprises participated in the rally across the interconnected islands of the southernmost Seenu Atoll. While Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam along with some MPs also took part, Haveeru notes that public participation was low.

According to the Child Protection Services Centre in Hithadhoo, 237 cases of child abuse and 58 cases of domestic violence have been reported since the centre was established.

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MMA Governor meets Finance Minister to discuss dollar shortage

Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Fazeel Najeeb met Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz last week to discuss the policy measures taken to alleviate the dollar shortage and determine what additional efforts could be undertaken to resolve the problem.

According to an MMA press statement on Thursday, Najeeb and Inaz agreed that given the continuing scarcity of dollars, “the problem of partiality by some to transactions with dollars instead of rufiyaa is tied to the dollar shortage.”

“It was therefore decided to go forward by consulting the business community about the issue,” it adds.

Deputy Governor Aishath Zahira, State Minister Ahmed Naseer and MMA technical staff also participated in the meeting.

Local media meanwhile reported a sharp rise in the wholesale prices of a number of commodities last week, ranging from powdered milk to areca nuts. Following the government’s decision earlier this month to replace the fixed exchanged rate with a managed float of the rufiya within a band of 20 percent of the 12.85 peg, newly-appointed Finance Minister Inaz told press that he expected the economy to stabilise within three months.

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Police arrest three suspects in burglary case

Police arrested three men Thursday on suspicion of stealing a safe with over Rf800,000 (US$62,250) in cash and jewellery from a house in Maafanu ward of Male’.

Haveeru reports that the third suspect, Ahmed Muaz, municipality register number 8499, was found Thursday night hiding in his girlfriend’s bathroom.

A police media official said that officers at the scene broke the bathroom door after Muaz refused to come out.

Muaz was arrested in connection with the burglary of a safe containing US$38,000 and Rf30,000 (US$2,330) in cash along with expensive watches and jewellery. The safe was stolen from the third floor of a Maafanu residence.

Jaufar Mohamed, 29, M. Medhuriya, and Ahmed Riyaz, 29, M. Hasthy, were meanwhile taken into custody before police issued a public search notice for Muaz.

Police revealed that one of the suspects, Jaufar Mohamed, had previously been sentenced to jail and that efforts were underway to determine how or why he was released.

Meanwhile the Criminal Court revealed that a man brought before the court yesterday for assaulting a shop owner after threatening to kill him had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Court records showed that Ismail Waheed, G. Sundance, had been convicted for possession of 25 packets of drugs.

The court ordered police to keep the repeat offender in custody for 15 days and to hand him over to the penitentiary department within that period.

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MMA launches dollar reference at Rf 14.75

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has published a dollar reference exchange rate of Rf 14.75, in an effort to give an approximate determination of the value of the currency.

Currency exchangers are permitted to sell dollars within a 20 percent band of the pegged rate of Rf 12.85, after the government launched a managed float of the rufiya earlier this month. Rf 14.75 is roughly the value of exchange on the black market prior to the managed float.

Banks are required to submit their daily rates to the MMA.

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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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