Category: News in Brief

Three stabbed in Malé

Two men and one minor were stabbed in Malé City’s Maafannu ward on Monday evening.

According to the police, an 18-year-old male was stabbed before dusk near the Mary Brown restaurant on the southwest corner of Malé. He suffered injuries to his right arm and ribs.

Shortly afterwards, another 18-year-old male was attacked by two individuals on motorbikes near Maafannu Yagoothuge.

A 17-year-old male was also attacked near Ace hardware store. He was stabbed in the back.

None of the victims suffered serious injuries, the police said.

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MDP announces winners in six parliamentary primaries

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced the winners in primaries for six parliamentary constituencies today.

Incumbent MP Nazim Rashad won the party ticket for Thulhadhoo constituency, while Ismail Ahmed won the Dhuvaafaru constituency.

Mahmood Idris won the primary for the Maamigili constituency and Ismail Gasim (Souvenir Isse) won the Vilifushi constituency. Abdulla Afeef won the ticket for Gemanafushi and Ahmed Ibrahim Didi (Campus Didi) secured the ticket for Fuvahmulah Medhu constituency.

Meanwhile, Abdulla Nafiz has secured the party ticket for Fuvahmulah South without a vote after his opponent pulled out of the primary today.

Of the 85 People’s Majlis constituencies, the party ticket was initially granted to 27 candidates without a primary due to a lack of contenders.

The party had scheduled primaries for the remaining 58 constituencies, but called off polls due to administrative and voter registry issues.

Voting has now been completed for 25 constituencies. Polling for Baarashu constituency will be held tomorrow,and the MDP expects to hold voting for 30 constituencies during the upcoming weekend.

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Corporate code amended to increase female board members

The Capital Development Market Authority has today announced amendments to the Corporate Governance Code, mandating all publicly listed companies to have at least two female board members.

Local media has reported that just three of the seven companies currently listed on the Maldives Stock Exchange have any female board member, with just two of these having the required number.

The governance code had also been amended to include a Comply or Explain clause which requires all boards to have one third female board members

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Indian visa restrictions lifted

Indian High Commissioner Rajeev Shahare has announced that all visa restrictions on Maldivians travelling to India have been lifted.

Local media reported Shahare as saying that Maldivians could now get a 90-day visa for medical visits to India.

“This is a very very privileged aspect of visa, we have not granted to any other country. Other nationals are required to have a cooling-off period of two months. Maldivians will not have, because this is a very privileged, special relationship that we have between India and Maldives,” he said.

Coming at the end of a week-long celebration of Indian-Maldivian ties, the move represents a further thawing of relations that had become strained under the previous administration.

Visa regulations were tightened just weeks after the premature termination of a US$500 million airport development deal with Indian infrastructure giant GMR. Indian authorities at the time claimed the decision to have been intended to draw attention to the Maldives’ treatment of expatriate workers.

In an interview with Haveeru yesterday, Attorney General Mohamed Anil suggested the government had a strong case in the arbitration proceedings that have followed GMR’s expulsion.

Following an official state visit to Indian earlier this month, President Abdulla Yameen and Indian leaders were reported to have discussed the potential of reaching an out of court settlement.

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Philippines national sentenced to life for smuggling drugs into Maldives

The Criminal Court yesterday (January 26) ruled that Philippines national Jenerosa Pancho Mapula was guilty of smuggling 3Kgs of cocaine into the Maldives, fining her MVR100,000 and sentencing her to life imprisonment.

The Criminal Court ruling stated that on April 24, 2013, Jenerosa arrived in the Maldives at arout 8:50am and that police searched her luggage after receiving intelligence reports that she was carrying illegal narcotics.

The court said that the drugs were discovered inside a handbag in her luggage.

Jenerosa denied the charges, the court said, though according to witnesses produced in court the drugs were found inside her luggage,which was searched in her presence.

The ruling stated that Jenerosa had told the court that the drugs did not belong to her, though she was unable to convince the court of this.

According to the ruling, Jenerosa will have to pay the fine within one month.

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Maldivian arrested for the crime of human trafficking

Police have arrested a 48 year old male from the island of Goidhoo in Baa Atoll on charges of engaging in the crime of human trafficking. In addition to him, seven expatriates were also arrested under the same case.

According to police, six of the seven expatriates had been working without work permits, and the remaining one had been in hiding from the sponsor who had initially brought him into the country.

The seven expatriates – who had previously lived on the island of Fehendhoo in Baa Atoll – had been taken to Goidhoo after a notice had been released to take them under police custody.

The trafficking arrest is the first made after the ratification of the Anti Human Trafficking Act last month.

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Saudi organisation to spend MVR 1.6 million to spread Quranic teachings in Maldives

Saudi Arabian organisation Al Hayat al Alamiya li Tadabbur al Quran ul Karim has decided to run a program to promote Quranic studies in the Maldives.

Delegates from the organisation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs on Sunday night, under which they have pledged to spend MVR1.6 million for related projects.

According to Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, the organisation will assist the Maldives in the field in numerous ways – including the establishment of a distance study program at the Centre of Quran and the establishment of a system where modern facilities can be used to research Quranic disciplines.

Providing information about the visit of the eleven delegates from the Saudi organisation, Shaheem stated that they have pledged to further develop the “Kulliyath Ul Madhrasathul Dhiraasaa” in the Maldives and to translate their literature into the Maldivian Dhivehi script.

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US never considered establishing military presence in Maldives

“The US has not and is not considering a permanent military presence in the Maldives. We continue to share a close bilateral defence relationship on areas of mutual interest,” Pentagon spokesperson Lt Col Jeffery Pool has told the Press Trust of India.

The comments come after President Abdulla Yameen was reported to have told Sri Lankan media that he had opted against a status of forces agreement (SOFA) with the US.

“There have been discussions before… we are not going to pursue it,” Yameen was quoted as telling media in Colombo.

Minister at the President’s Office Mohamed Hussain Shareef has told media the agreement was rejected for fear of upsetting both Sri Lanka and India.

“We have told them that we can’t do it because both India and Sri Lanka are also not happy with it,” Shareef was quoted as saying.

US officials have repeatedly denied any intentions to establish a base in the Maldives – long associated with military strategists’ ‘String of Pearls’ theory for Chinese military expansion in the Indian Ocean.

The initial document – leaked in April last year – proposed a ten-year agreement which would grant the US unspecified access to facilities within Maldivian territory, with the right to “undertake new construction works and make alterations and improvements.”

The US would also be granted access to and use of “aerial ports, sea ports and agreed facilities for transit, support and related activities; bunkering of ships, refueling of aircraft, maintenance of vessels, aircraft, vehicles and equipment, accommodation of personnel, communications, ship visits, training, exercises, humanitarian activities,”read the leaked draft.

US officials argued that it had around one hundred similar agreements with friendly nations in support of ongoing operation.

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One Bangladeshi national killed, a second stabbed in Malé

A 22 year old Bangladeshi construction worker has been killed following a traffic collision in Hulhumalé, local media has reported.

Doctors in Sri Lanka were unable to save the man, who had been airlifted to the country after suffering severe head injuries when knocked from his bicycle by a car.

Police are working with the Housing Development Corporation to investigate the matter.

Meanwhile, a second Bangladeshi national has been stabbed during a mugging in Malé, say reports.

Three men were said to have attacked the truck driver, taking a mobile phone, MVR3,500 and leaving the victim with minor injuries. Police are investigating.

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