Day: December 7, 2009

Imam among seven men arrested for homosexual activity

A group of men, including an imam, were arrested in Alif Alif atoll Maalhos on Thursday after photos and videos emerged of the seven engaged in homosexual activity.

An islander who spoke on condition of anonymity told Minivan News a group of teenagers from the island came upon the video CDs in the house of one of the suspects. When the CDs began to be circulated in public, the “island elders” alerted police.

“It came as a big shock to everyone on the island to see that [the imam] was one of them. He gives the Friday sermons at the mosque every week,” he said. “He is a well respected person on the island and we saw him as our religious leader.”

Besides the imam, the pornographic videos featured a mosque caretaker, a carpenter and another man the islanders believe to be mentally unstable, the islander claimed.

“He is a deranged person. We have always seen him running around the island naked,” he said.

Of the three men not featured in the video, two were incriminated in photos found along with the videos, he continued, while the third was believed to have filmed the pornography.

Three of the suspects were married with children, the islander said, while one of them included a second, retired imam. The youngest of the seven men was aged 27, while the rest were over 45 years of age, he said.

Miadhu reported other islanders as claiming that two of the seven men consider themselves “as husband and wife.”

Sergeant Ahmed Shiyam from the Maldives Police Service confirmed the arrests were made on Thursday following a report from the islanders. The seven men are currently in police custody. All were residents of Maalhos.

A spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry said they were not yet aware of the case and could not speculate on any measures that could be taken. Meanwhile Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim, President of Islamic NGO Salaf Jamiya, also said he was unable to comment as they did not have complete information on the case.

Under the existing penal provisions, the punishment for sodomy is 19 to 39 lashes, banishment or imprisonment of up to three years.

Another islander from Maalhos who spoke to Minivan News said a group of people had become suspicious of the seven men before the videos came out.

“They have been following them around for a long time now,” he said. “They were suspicious before, and the videos just confirmed it.”

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Minivan News enables comments

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The Minivan News team

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Comment & Analysis: Corruption, your ‘no’ counts

Corruption has a devastating effect on democratic governance and economic development all over the world.

The problem is global and no country in the world could possibly claim to be immune against any of the various forms in which corruption manifests itself. Yet, it is of particular concern in the developing world, as huge amounts of money and resources are diverted through corruption away from what it should serve: socio-economic development, justice and security.

And it is a particular concern to South Asia, which is home to one-fifth of the world population and where countries face enormous challenges of sustainably alleviating poverty for millions of people and of meeting the universally agreed upon Millennium Development Goals in less than six years from now.

Corruption, not culture

Often, people believe that they are at the mercy of corruption or even that paying a bribe just belongs to a way of life or a culture in a given society and that this cannot be changed. Although corruption is mostly unanimously considered as ethically unacceptable, it seems that only few are able to visualize and understand the long term harmful consequences of corruption for development and the society. It is perhaps, therefore, that skepticism with regard to the benefits of a zero tolerance approach, have remained for a long time.

This is now gradually changing. In 2003, the world community marked a historic milestone by adopting the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the first ever universal instrument against corruption.

Two years later, it entered into force and today, we can report that 142 countries have ratified the Convention. Through this Convention, Governments have now universally agreed upon and accepted comprehensive standards and measures to criminalise and prevent a variety of forms of corrupt practices, such as bribery of public officials, both national and international, embezzlement of funds, trading in influence, abuse of functions, illicit enrichment, laundering of the proceeds of crime and obstruction of justice.

Equally important, State Parties to the Convention have committed themselves to implement appropriate measures for asset recovery, also across borders, and international cooperation in view of the transnational character of organized criminal activities, such as drug and arms trafficking.

UN-logoWhereas the Convention has been signed and ratified by Governments, it does not limit itself to entrusting measures for the public sphere. It also proposes concrete measures to be taken both by the private sector and the civil society. For example, the Convention specifically mandates the private sector to establish a code of conduct for the prevention of conflicts of interest, internal auditing controls as well as proper commercial practices.

Equally, the civil society is called upon to create awareness and undertake public information and education programmes to promote transparency, integrity and non-tolerance of corruption.

Since entering into force, the State Parties to the United Nations Convention have met regularly to discuss progress in the implementation of the Convention. In the last meeting held in Doha in early November, States have made a breakthrough by agreeing to a new mechanism, under which they will monitor every five years to see how they are living up to their obligations under the Convention.

The strength of the monitoring mechanism is that it is based on self-assessments and peer reviews and that information will be made public.

Time has come to be judged by action taken and not by promises made. The “your no counts” campaign which was brought to live to harness people’s support for anti-corruption in the spirit of the Convention, also calls on you to stand up for integrity and take action against corruption.

Cristina Albertin is the UN representative for the Office on Drugs and Crime in South Asia.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Parliamentary committee suspends budget review process

The parliamentary committee chosen to evaluate the Rf11.9 mid-term budget for 2010 has suspended the process after requesting information from the finance ministry.

In an email to Minivan News today, MP Ahmed Nazim (pictured) of the opposition People’s Alliance, chairman of the 15-member ad hoc committee and deputy speaker of parliament, said some of the information was presented in a “confusing and misleading” way.

“The budget is very misleading as the finance ministry has not provided any details for major changes in budgeted figures. For example expenditure of IGMH [Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital] has been reduced from Rf317,662,050 to Rf248,842,204,” he said.

“The question is why? When we questioned the health minister in the committee only we came to know that they plan to corporatise IGMH by forming a Health Corporation and remove or reduce state subsidies.”

He added subsidies for the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation was not included in the budget:  “Can TVM [Television Maldives] and VoM [Voice of Maldives] finance their 2010 operations on their own? Surely not.”

Among other discrepancies were expenditure and revenue included in the budget for dissolved bodies and departments.

“The government recently announced that they have abolished Public Complaints Bureau and Department of medical Services. BUT expenditure amounting to Rf2.5 million is included in 2010 budget for Public Complaints Bureau in Home Ministry budget and Rf6.5 million is included as REVENUE from Dept of Medical Services,” he said.

Further, the committee noted that the budget for atoll hospitals was higher than the previous year.

“When we questioned the health minister and senior officials of the health ministry they said they don’t know the reason for that. They also said that MAY BE it is because the budgets of all other health centre’s of the atoll is included in the atoll hospital budget of that respective atolls,” said Nazim. “We cannot go ahead with a budget review with answers like ‘may be’. We need to be sure.”

Nazim said the finance ministry has not responded to the committee’s letter requesting information.

But, he added, the committee would be able to complete its evaluation in the required time frame.

Officials from the finance ministry did not respond to Minivan News’ requests for comment today.

Parliament yesterday wrapped up the budget debate after 60 MPs spoke throughout three sittings.

MPs of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party-People’s Alliance (DRP-PA) coalition strongly criticised the budget, arguing it did not include sufficient funds for development projects.

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CSC refutes media reports of condition attached to IMF aid

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has denied media reports the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved financial assistance of US$92.5 million on the condition that salaries and allowances for civil servants are reduced.

A press release issued by the CSC yesterday states that the commission did not believe the IMF imposed the condition that salaries are reduced solely for civil servants.

It quotes from a statement issued by the IMF on Friday, which states the government was taking action to reduce expenditure, “including unwinding part of the recent large wage increases” and had “taken steps to reform the civil service”.

The commission points out that the IMF statement does not exclude or single out a particular area for salary reductions.

“Since it does not define the outcome of the reform when it refers to the civil service reform, we believe the opportunity would remain for employees’ salaries to be increased,” it reads.

Last week, the CSC sent letters to both President Mohamed Nasheed and parliament requesting civil servants’ salaries be restored to their former levels.

In August, the government introduced a raft of austerity measures, such as pay cuts for political appointees up to 20 per cent, to alleviate the budget deficit.

Following negotiations between the finance ministry and the CSC, the commission agreed to reduce salaries of civil servants up to 20 per cent subject to a review in three months.

When the pay cuts were enforced in October, it was agreed that the salaries would be restored to former levels once government revenue exceeds Rf7 billion (US$544 million).

The mid-term budget for 2010 was proposed to parliament with projected revenues of Rf7.3 billion (US$568 million).

The commission’s press release states that as section 43 of the CSC regulations empower the commission to alter salaries, other government authorities could not sign agreements stipulating reductions for civil servants’ salaries.

Presenting the budget to parliament, Finance Minister Ali Hashim said the IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank had recommended reductions to the civil service.

Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary, told Minivan News last week that salaries would only be restored once the revenue “physically” reached Rf7 billion.

The civil service pay cuts sparked outrage from the opposition, which accused the government of unfairly targeting civil servants as they were sympathetic to the former government.

The opposition further denied that the economic circumstances warranted the pay cuts and criticised the government for “economic mismanagement”.

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Vimla employees protest non-payment of wages

Vimla employees protest non-payment of wages

About a 100 foreign employees of Vimla Construction protested outside the company’s offices yesterday over non-payment of wages and food allowances, Haveeru reports.

The employees claimed they have not been paid last month’s wages or overtime allowances for a year.

An official from Vimla said the workers were demanding that the company arrange for them to leave for holidays in groups. He said about six employees were being sent back every week, but it would be difficult to send more at a time.

He denied the workers had not been paid, adding their food was provided by hotels.

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Massage parlour set ablaze

A massage parlour in Male was set on fire after some kind of incidendiary was thrown through the door on Friday, Haveeru reports.

The fire damaged furniture and equipment in the lobby of the Nature and Health Care clinic as well as shattering the glass on two doors inside.

Police said nobody was injured in the attack on the clinic, which hires expatriate women to offer massages according to Haveeru.

Police refused to speculate on the motives of the attacker, and said while no arrests had been made the investigation was ongoing.

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German Ambassador to the Maldives inaugrated

German Ambassador to the Maldives Jens Uwe Plötner has presented his letter of credentials to President Mohamed Nasheed.

Following the ceremony yesterday, Plötner and Nasheed discussed ways of strengthening the relationship between the two countries, particularly in the area of eco-tourism. Germany is popularly considered to be one of Europe’s leaders on environmental issues.

Plötner said Germany admired Nasheed’s “courageous policies” and pledged his country’s assistance.

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MP volunteers for pay cut

Mohamed Riyaz, MDP MP of Gaaf Dhaal Dhaandhoo has asked the People’s Majlis administration to reduce his salary by 20 per cent, reports Miadhu.

A special parliamentary committee is currently discussing the possibility of reducing the salary of Majlis members, but a consensus has not been forthcoming. Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed initially proposed reducing MP’s salaries and allowances from Mrf 62,000 a month to Mrf 37,000, but his bill was rejected.

Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has requested members take a 20 per cent pay cut in the wake of reductions across the civil service.

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