Day: June 30, 2011

Army’s intervention in immigration is progress, not policy failure: Human Resources Minister

Human Resources Minister Hassan Latheef has denied that his ministry and immigration authorities failed to deal with longstanding internal concerns over corrupt “discretionary” practices, after the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) temporarily took over border control this week.

The country’s defense forces have taken over front-line immigration services as well as the employment arm of the Human Resources Ministry amidst an ongoing investigation into allegations of what Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid claimed was corruption in the work permit system.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Latheef claimed that cabinet’s decision to deploy the military to oversee immigration was further encouraged by the revelation that the Maldives remained on the US State Department’s Tier 2 Watch List for human trafficking. The report criticised the country for having increasing number of migrant workers from Bangladesh and to a lesser extent, India, being subjected to forced labour in the Maldives, as well as showing little evidence of increased efforts to tackle the problem.

Latheef claimed that despite an apparent lack of direct action on suspected human trafficking, his office had supplied a database of information and accounts from 16,000 illegal immigrants working in the country that had been used to identify companies and employment agencies suspected of foul play.

However, with foreign worker exploitation estimated to rival fishing as the second greatest contributor of foreign currency to the Maldivian economy, the human resources minister claimed that it was now vital to bring about regulatory reforms that would cut out the “discretionary powers” among both civil servants and political figures in government departments like his own.

“Giving too much discretion – to anybody, especially when money is so much involved – leads to corruption. Even I do not require any discretion for that matter. It should be in black and white,” he said.

Latheef claimed that these concerns should not be viewed as an indication of complete failure within the ministry’s handling of expatriate workers.

“I wouldn’t say that the Department of Immigration or human resources failed in this. We have done a lot of work, a lot of substantial work that has provided us with lot of findings especially the [information] about the 16,000 illegal expatriates I was referring to. That’s quite an achievement.”

Latheef said he accepted there had been delays in taking action against alleged corruption within the country’s visa system, which he claimed was identified immediately after coming into office in 2008.  The minister added that it had not been possible for the combined efforts of his ministry and the immigration department to resolve them alone.

“I do admit there is a delay in taking action, but I don’t see how this can be resolved without a third party getting involved. I think the MNDF is ideal for this and that is the decision we took in the cabinet,” he said. “It’s not like one morning I woke up and discovered that something was wrong. I discovered this on November 12, 2008. The very first press conference I gave in 2008, in December if I’m not mistaken, I did mention there are a lot of issues and faults in the database of the ministry and I have been working on this since.”

Latheef said that a number of findings had been passed onto the police as part of ongoing investigations, though he said that the different functions of government meant the ministry could not move by itself to try and combat the alleged corruption within it.

“I’ve submitted cases to police and raised issues with the cabinet, so it’s time everyone understands what I was trying to say back in 2008 and 2009. Now I’m very happy that the MNDF has come to my office and they are doing the work that I have tried to do. I do see some good things in it.”

With three years of concerns over the ministry’s role in assigning and regulating work visas to foreign workers, Latheef claimed that the ministry would now need to demonstrate a significant and visible change in policy to restore confidence in its operations.

Among these changes, the minister claimed, would be new software systems and database management software implemented in conjunction with the National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) and the MNDF, as well as tighter legislation.

Through this proposed legislation, which Latheef said had begun to be put into force from the middle of this month, the government is said to be hoping to provide a much more comprehensive system for dealing with expatriate workers along with new IT systems designed to reduce discrepancies in visa numbers.

“Discretionary powers”

With large sums of money involved in the national trade in human trafficking, Latheef claimed it was vital to move away from a system of allowing individuals wide-spread discretionary powers to approve or disapprove visa applications.

“The previous regulations we have had allows a lot of discretionary powers for the directors and assistant directors who are sitting in the ministries, giving them the right to reject or issue quotas,” he said. “It is not an oversight – it is a deliberate work of the previous government I should say.”

Amidst additional challenges said to be facing the government, Latheef said that streamlining communication and collaboration between different ministries had been a significant issue since the government of President Mohamed Nasheed had been voted into power in 2008.

Earlier this week, Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid told Minivan News that the relationship between the Human Resources Ministry and the Immigration Department prior to the MNDF’s intervention had been “strained”, and that there was no shared IT system linking the records of both.

In addressing the claims, Latheef said that he believed that the appointment in February of Abdulla Shahid to the post of immigration controller had already led to changes in inter-departmental policy concerning visa allowances.

“Especially with the former controller [Ilyas Hussein Ibrahim], it was not easy to hold discussions on any matter. I’m not criticising his policies or administrative capacity. But as politicians, we should be able to sit down and discuss anything we want to and try and find a comfortable solution – especially when we are in the same government,” he said. “Now it is very much easier for me. Even today I had a meeting with the controller [Shahid] and the defense minister discussing this [visa] issue.”

The human resources minister claimed that distrust in the past between his own office and the Department of Immigration had perhaps prevented important information being shared between the two bodies.

“For instance, the Immigration Department would not share with us the information on issues of working visas because of mistrust they had – and vice versa. With these new developments, all this information could be viewed by a lot more government agencies,” he said. “I’m not sure on this, as we are still discussing the matter, but the police should be a party that are able to see and view all our data from the ministry. If we issue a work permit to anyone, there should be other agencies in the government who should be able to view this from their computers. It’s always a check when someone else is watching you.”

Ultimately, Latheef said that he believed cabinet ministers had to show more trust in their own judgments on key policy issues, rather than relying wholeheartedly on civil servants from within their departments.

While claiming that he was not aware of anyone within his ministry who was deliberately trying to undermine the government, Latheef said that he was concerned some politicians were relying too much on civil servants who had held their positions for almost two decades.

“I’m not aware of anyone who is deliberately following an agenda of the previous government in this ministry, but knowingly or unknowingly, some people tend to work in alliance with [them],” he said. “In other words, sometimes they forget the government has changed and that it is a new bunch of people running the country now, with a very different manifesto and manner of administration and its time they understand that. That has been there, even in this ministry.”

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Leaked report identifies investigative failures in acquital of drug kingpin

A report compiled by the Presidential Commission (PC) following an inquiry into the controversial acquittal of alleged drug kingpin Adam Naseer in February 2010 has been leaked online, suggesting that shortcomings in the police investigation and weak evidence were responsible for failure to convict one of the “top six drug lords” identified by police.

According to the report, the inquiry into the police investigation and subsequent prosecution was requested by President Mohamed Nasheed in March 2010.

Police were unable to find “any evidence to prove at court that Adam Naseer bought and sold drugs,” the report concludes.

It further states that there was “reason to suspect negligence or a plan” behind the failure to gather strong evidence.

“Weak points”

The PC report identifies as “weak points” discrepancies in the statements provided by the police investigation team regarding the amount of drugs seized in the operation, revealing that police did not take the suspect’s fingerprint, dust the evidence for fingerprints or search Naseer for “any sign of drugs on him.”

“Apart from the statement of the police agent, Naseer’s friend [Ahmed] Ramzee, there was no other evidence to prove that the can [of narcotics] belonged to him,” reads ‘weak point’ number six. “And while police were certain for many hours that Naseer had the can, he was not caught red-handed.”

It adds that due to the hasty decision to arrest Naseer and search his residence before someone arrived to collect the can, police lost the opportunity to nab the suspect’s associates.

Among the other findings, the report notes that police trailed the suspect for six months prior to his arrest after intelligence sources learned that Naseer was going to recover drugs buried in an agriculture field he owned in Seenu Hithadhoo.

In addition to Rf5 million (US$389,100) in cash, police recovered eight empty rubber packets with trace amounts of narcotics and a plastic can with drugs from his residence.

However police were unable to uncover any details of Naseer’s dealings during the six-month investigation, such as his sources and customers.

The report notes that the inquiry was based on a summary report available from the Criminal Court website after the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) denied the commission’s request for the court report.

“The Prosecutor General’s Office informed the commission in writing that the [PG] office could provide any assistance saying that [investigating] such cases was against the commission’s mandate,” it reads.

Recommendations

The report recommends “strengthening investigative capability,” suggesting that police should not undertake such operations without “modern facilities” and officers with the skill and training to employ them.

Moreover, the report notes that all three investigative teams were led by Superintendent Mohamed Jinah, head of the Drug Enforcement Department (DED), recommending separating the teams to allow for monitoring of progress.

The report further advises instituting safeguards against potential corruption inside the DED and guarding against possible attempts to compromise high stakes investigations.

Among the irregularities noted in the report, the commission was told by the police agent that he was not remunerated while Superintendent Jinah insisted otherwise.

Read full report (in Dhivehi)

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Parliament deadlocks over control of influential committees

Parliament has deadlocked as the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) grapple for control of parliament’s most powerful and influential committees.

Parliamentary regulation dictates that composition of committees such as the 241 ‘National Security’ and Finance Committees is determined based on party representation, which has shifted following the recent defection of three opposition MPs to the ruling party.

One of these former opposition MPs, Ali Waheed, chairs the National Security Committee.

In a bid to head off MDP control of the committees, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Party Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali was meeting with Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim to discuss a potential coalition agreement, DRP MP Ahmed Nihan confirmed.

Of parliament’s 12 committees the MDP control five seats, the DRP 4, while the rest were chaired by Independents, Nihan said.

While agreeing that greater representation entitled the MDP to greater committee presence, “there are certain circumstances it which committees concerned with public accountability, finance and national security should [be held] by the opposition,” he said.

The cancellation of sessions this week due to the deadlock not only delaying the passing of many important bills, he said, but “also compromising the work of my own committee on social services. We are working on a Right to Information Bill with stakeholders and experts from all over the world.”

DRP Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef said the MDP’s bid for control of the committees was “a real matter of concern”, and also claimed that oversight committees in many other countries, such as the UK and India, were headed by opposition figures.

He acknowledged that the DRP was in discussions with other opposition-aligned parties regarding the forming of a coalition. The party is already formally allied with the People’s Alliance (PA) and the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), but not yet Gasim’s Jumhoree Party.

“We are in discussion,” he said. The party was, he said, “open to everything”, and acknowledged that a formal coalition agreement with the Jumhoree Party would strengthen the party regardless of the factional battle current waging between Thasmeen and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s ‘Z-DRP’.

“There are many positions on which we agree. Gasim was once deputy leader of the DRP and his political and ideology remain similar,” Shareef said.

The MDP’s play for the committees comes as the party is seeking to pass a number of bills it regards as critical for the country’s future prosperity, notably a package of economic and taxation reforms it has pledged to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). If debate over the bills erupt, their fate is likely to be decided by the Finance Committee, which in 2009 increased state budget expenditure by 20 percent.

“We do not oppose modernising and reforming the tax system, but it is a concern when government expenditure is 55 percent of GDP and the government is not doing enough to bring that down,” Shareef said.

The government’s proposed income tax only targets people earning more than Rf 30,000 a month – “taxing the rich is not a problem,” Shareef said – but many such earners include landlords, he noted.

“Rents will just go up, and this will have an adverse effect on people who can least afford it,” he said. “Taxation would be a huge drain, particularly for people already paying high rents in Male’.”

MDP Parliamentary Group Leader and MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, MP Eva Abdulla, MP Ahmed Hamza and MDP Spokesperson Ahmed Haleem were not responding at time of press.

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Civil Court suspends Champa’s Rf100 million fine for environmental damage, as case begins

The Civil Court has issued an injunction on the Rf100 million fine levied against local business tycoon Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa, by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for illegal reclamation work on Thunbafushi, reports Haveeru.

Champa’s lawyer, former Attorney General Azima Shukoor, is contesting that the EPA violated the constitution and the Environment Protection Act by imposing a fine on him.

The EPA labelled Champa an “environmental criminal” for irreversibly damaging the island of Thun’bafushi and the marine ecosystem of Thun’bafalhu.

After three surveys of the area, the EPA assessed the damage as amounting to Rf2,230,293,566 (US$144.6 million), not including the impact of sedimentation from the dredging which can smother coral kilometres from the site.

A foreign consultant who was involved in surveying the island told Minivan News in an earlier interview that the area “seems to have been used as a dumping ground.”

“There were what looked like hundreds of used car batteries, waste metals and oil drums leeching into the marine environment,” the consultant said.

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MFDA shuts down Billabong International School’s canteen

The Maldives Food and Drugs Authority (MFDA) has shutdown Billabong International High School’s canteen after the authority’s inspectors determined that it did not meet hygiene regulations.

Media Coordinator of the MFDA Jameela Adam said the authority would not close an eatery if the condition of the place was “not that poor.’”

“Our first priority is to suggest the improvement of the hygiene condition without forcing them to shut down their business,’’ said Jameela. ‘’But there is this certain criteria that all food outlets are required to have, which is the minimum standard. If any food outlet’s condition is poorer than those standards, we ask them to close the place immediately.’’

The MFDA has ceased providing reasons for the closures after complaints from outlet owners. Prior to that details for closures were disclosed – in one instance, a teashop was shut after inspectors discovered a live goat in the toilet.

‘’I can confirm that the hygiene condition of Billabong’s canteen was very poor,’’ she said. ‘’We took pictures and showed them what we found, and they also agreed that they had to correct those issues.’’

‘’Issues such as finding live animals, cockroaches, house flies and other foreign materials inside the food outlets are normally the major issues,’’ she said.

Jameela also noted that food inspectors had observed that a lot of expatriate food outlets in Hulhumale’ had been operating without the authorisation of the MFDA.

‘’We have closed many expat food outlets in Hulhumale’ for operating without MFDA permission,’’ she said.

She also said it was not the aim of the MFDA to shut down food outlets.

‘’Our goal is to ensure that safe food provided to customers in all food outlets,’’ she added.

Recently, famous restaurants such as West Park, Raaveriya and Alfresco Café were closed by the MFDA. Most reopened after addressing the authority’s complaints.

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Safe recovered after hotel robbery

A safe stolen from the Marble Hotel hotel by a group of masked men has been recovered by police, reports Haveeru.

The safe was found in a house in Henveriu, although police did not confirm whether it still contained the Rf100,000 the hotel said had been in it at the time of the robbery.

Police are investigating the robbery but have yet to make any arrests.

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Police investigating apparent torture and murder of Bangladeshi man on Fuvahmulah

A 25 year-old Bangladeshi man has been found dead in a ditch in Fuvahmulah, with signs suggesting he had been tortured prior to death.

The body of the man, identified by island authorities as ‘Shareef’ who worked as a carpenter in Dhoodigamu ward, was found with his hands tied behind his back and with wire around his neck.

Fuvamulah Island Councillor Ahmed Shareef told Minivan News that the Bangladeshi man was last seen alive two days ago on June 28 at 8:00pm.

”He was with his colleagues at work and left late that night,” Councillor Shareef said. ”Because he was late for work [the next day], his colleagues went to his house and noted that he was missing.”

Councillor Shareef said the body of the carpenter was discovered yesterday by a farmer near his property.

“He had severe injuries to his head, neck and wounds all over his body,” the councillor said. ”He had lots of cash with him and he was about to leave to Bangladesh for vacation. It seems someone robbed him of the money and attacked him.”

Vice President of Fuvahmulah Atoll Council Ali Fazad told newspaper Haveeru that Shareef had injuries around his ears from a sharp object, and appeared to have bled profusely from a blow to the head.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said it was too early in the investigation to confirm motives for the attack, but said that two Bangladeshi nationals had been arrested in connection with the incident, based on information obtained by Fuvahmulah police.

“The body was not far decomposed so [the attack] may have happened recently. We are waiting on the medical report,” Shiyam said.

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Return to politics casts Gayoom as the one who undermined democracy in the Maldives, not introduced it: Eurasia Review

Gayoom’s return to active politics is creating instability in a country that is trying to manage a smooth change over from three decades of authoritative rule to one of multi party democracy, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

“In my view his entry may cause some ripples, but this will not change the steady consolidation of democracy that is already taking place. The MDP under the present President Nasheed is seen to be gaining strength though confrontational politics may continue for long until the party gains sufficient strength in the Majlis.

A case in point is the observation made by Gayoom in a meeting to mark the seventh anniversary of the introduction of the Reform Agenda during his regime. He said that Maldivians never had a true democracy (his regime included) and made a famous statement: “ A system under which a country’s citizens live in fear of political oppression and persecution is not a democratic system at all.”

If he was referring to the period during his regime of thirty years, one cannot but agree but it is not so now. Did he not jail the present president under terror laws when the latter was protesting peacefully during his regime? Did he not hound out his predecessor Ibrahim Nasir and his whole family and relatives and banished them from the country? After making a deal with the ruling party, and accepting generous retirement benefits, is he not trying to come back to politics by trying to demolish a leader chosen by him as his successor in the party created by him?

To cap it all, he said that true democracy could only be delivered to the Maldivian people by winning the 2013 presidential election. Perhaps he is referring to himself!

This can be seen from the fact that Gayoom formally took over the leadership of the rival DRP faction known as Z-DRP (Zaeen DRP) on 1st of June this month. A formal meeting between representatives of Thasmeen Ali’s DRP (original DRP!) and that of Gayoom took place some days ago but the differences appear to be irreconcilable. Thasmeen Ali is no “push over” either and he has many supporters still.

Gayoom is thus not helping democracy when he weakens the present opposition which is formidable and does keep the government in check. Worse still, unverified allegations inspired by Gayoom and his supporters questioning Thasmeen’s integrity are being made just to discredit the latter.

Gayoom as I had said many times before could have remained in the history of Maldives as the one who had brought in true democracy to country and instead he is likely to be remembered as the one who tried to undermine a fledgling democracy!”

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