Category: Politics

Opposition calls for no-confidence motion against Economic Minister over ADC

The opposition has announced it will forward a no-confidence motion against Minister of Economic Development, Mahmoud Razee, for handing the airport to Indian infrastructure giant GMR.

The Civil Court last week ruled against GMR in a case filed by the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), challenging its right to collect a US$25 (Rf385.5) Airport Development Charge (ADC) and US$2 (Rf30.8) Insurance Charge from January 2012.

The DQP had claimed that a pre-existing Airport Service Charge (ASC) of US$18 (Rf277.56) invalidates the ADC, which was specified in the concession agreement signed with the government last year.

GMR shares on the Mumbai stock exchange fell 7.57 percent on the day of Civil Court ruling, which could potentially leave GMR facing an annual US$25 million shortfall, India’s Economic Times reported.

“GMR has been permitted to collect ADC and Insurance charge under the Concession Agreement signed between GMR-MAHB, Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL) and The Republic of Maldives (acting by and through its Ministry of Finance and Treasury), and as such has set up processes for ADC collection from 1st January 2012 supported by an information campaign to ensure adequate awareness,” the company said in a statement following media reports of the ruling.

Villufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed alleged today challenged the legally of Razee’s signing of the document, claiming that it allowed GMR to “unlawfully tax” passengers, and claimed he was responsible.

Haveeru reported that the opposition parliamentary group allied against Razee included MPs from the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and several independent MPs.

Razee said he was “waiting for the  awaiting the motion to be duly processed.”

“There’s nothing wrong or illegal about [the contract]. It’s up to the MPs to deliberate and decide what is to be done,” he said. “If there was anything illegal, then MPs should have had a look at it when it went through the Majlis. There were some issues that were sent to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which looked into it and things moved forward.”

Following the civil court ruling last week, President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said he believed the government was obligated to appeal the ruling in the High Court. However neither Zuhair nor the Attorney General were responding to calls at time of press.

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Tourism arrivals would drop “10-36 percent” if government provokes terrorist attack, warns Adhaalath

The religious Adhaalath Party has sent a letter to parliament warning that a terrorist attack in the Maldives would reduce tourist arrivals “by 10-36 percent for the next 12 months.”

The letter was sent to parliament’s national security committee which has begun debating whether to permit Israeli flights to land in the Maldives.

“If there is a terrorist attack in the Maldives due to the commencement of Zionist Israel’s flight operations to Maldives, the tourist arrival rates for the next 12 months will decline by 10-36 percent,” Adhaalath predicted in the letter, adding that the tourism industry would face a loss of US$200 million to US$1 billion. The party did not elaborate on how it reached the figures.

Adhaalath severed its coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in September, soon after the Transport Ministry granted a licence to Israeli flag carrier El Al to begin operations to Maldives.

Since then, Adhaalath has been campaigning against the licence, stirring strong anti-Israeli sentiment.

In the letter forwarded to the national security committee, which has an MDP majority, Adhaalath alleged that the Israeli flights are “targeted by the terrorists” and said that terrorist “eyes” would turn on Maldives if the operations commence, posing “serious threats to the national security”.

MPs debated Adhaalath’s letter during Wednesday’s committee meeting and decided to summon the head of the Maldives security forces to examine the claims.

“We will discuss the concerns raised by the Adhaalath Party and consult security forces to determine whether action should be taken,” said committee head, MDP MP Ali Waheed.

MDP MP Mohamed Thoriq was meanwhile quoted in local media as calling for an investigation into all the allegations Adhaalath has made regarding the Maldives’ ties with Israel, claiming that as a 100 percent muslin country, the Maldives must “be prepared for any threats from Israel”.

Sun Online reported MDP MP Mohamed Nazim meanwhile suggested conducting research into whether Jewish arrivals to the Maldives in the past had caused any negative effect on the Islamic faith, while Independent MP Mohamed Zubair was quoted as claiming that Israeli flight operations would “bring no benefit to the Maldivian economy”.

Transport Minister Adhil Saleem observed that opponents of allowing Israel to fly to the Maldives “don’t seem to have an issue with Israeli tourists coming to the Maldives and spending their money.”

His mandate as Transport Minister was to increase air, sea and cargo transport to and from all countries, Saleem said, “and if there is no specific legal exemption for Israel, I cannot treat it any differently as that would mean I was corrupt.”

He would not comment on whether allowing El Al to fly to the Maldives posed a security risk, deferring to the defence forces. There were, he said, many Muslim Israelis and a number of Islamic holy sites in Israel, such as the Masjid-Al-Aqsa, and 500-800 Maldivians flew there each year.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the Arab population of Israel in 2010 was estimated at 1,573,000, 20 percent of the country’s total population and almost five times that of the Maldives.

El Al is notably the only commercial airline equipped with infrared counter-measures for defence against anti-aircraft missiles, according to the its Wikipedia entry. All flights are manned by armed sky marshals, the cockpit is protected by a two door ‘mantrap’, and the baggage hold is armoured to protect the passenger cabin from explosive devices.

The airline’s last reported security incident occurred in 2002 when a 23 year-old Israeli Arab was apprehended after attempting to break into the cockpit with a pocket knife. Earlier that same year a gunman killed two people and was shot dead at an El Al check in counter at Los Angeles International Airport.

The first El Al flight was due to arrive in the Maldives on December 13, however Saleem said the airline has so far yet to forward the scheduling to the Ministry.

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Blogger arrested as police investigate both protests

Controversial blogger Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed was arrested this evening for his involvement in last Saturday’s ‘silent protest’ for religious tolerance, which turned ended in violent after several individuals attacked the group with stones. Hilath was taken to the hospital with head injuries.

According to the Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam, Hilath was arrested under a Criminal Court order issued today.

Rasheed’s arrest follows the blocking of his blog by the Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The Ministry made the request on the grounds that the site contained anti-Islamic material.

Police are currently interrogating some of the approximately 30 individuals who gathered at Artificial Beach on Saturday. Calls for an investigation of the protest were made by religious conservative Adhaalath party, NGO Jamiyyathu Salaf, and ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik.

While pursuing its investigation of the protest for religious tolerance, police have also summoned the developer of the website 23December.com, which this week published slogans calling for the murder of anti-Islamic activists in what organisers later described as a “technical mistake”.

Developer Ali Ahsan told Haveeru that police wanted to understand who was responsible for the website’s conception, development and published material.

“The police also questioned whether those inappropriate phrases or those slogans [calling for the killing of people] were present when the information was published on the website,” he said.

Ahsan, who also edits online publication DhiIslam, said police had confiscated the hard drive used for the development of 23December.com, Haveeru reports.

The investigation into the aggressive error began yesterday, when police questioned Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla and Civil Coalition official Abdulla Mohamed over the death threats.

Sheikh Imran and Mohamed did not speak directly to the press, however their lawyer, former State Minister of Islamic Ministry Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, confirmed that police asked them about the slogans published on the website.

Shaheem said that slogans calling for murder were not on the website when it was launched, adding that the “content were manipulated by some people spying on the website”.

Abdullah, who is the lead organiser of the the protest, also told Minivan News on Tuesday that the team had not seen the slogans calling for murder until the day after the launch. ”We corrected the mistake as soon as it was brought to our notice,” Abdullah said.

He said the slogans were earlier attributed as a “mistake on technical team’s side” after they identified some loop holes in the website security, adding that their “suspicions were confirmed” when the website was hacked on Tuesday morning.

President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair today issued a statement blaming organisers of the 23 December demonstration for disrupting public order to achieve “hidden agendas”.

He said he not believe that removing the violent slogans from the promotional website was sufficient proof of non-violent intentions.

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Moosa calls for investigation of protesters who called for religious tolerance

MDP MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has called for an investigation of the “silent protest” for religious tolerance, held last weekend at the Artificial Beach.

The religious Adhaalath Party and NGO Jamiyyathu Salaf have also asked the police to investigate the participants.

The group, who dubbed themselves ‘Silent Solidarity’, issued a press release following the event stating that the cause of the gathering was “to make the Maldives and the international community aware of the rising religious intolerance in the Maldives, and to condemn the constitutionally-endorsed suppression of religious freedom. It is also intended to denounce the increasing use being made of Islam as a tool of political power.”

The actual protest, held on International Human Rights Day, turned into a bloody affair when controversial blogger Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed was struck on the head with a stone. The other 15-30 protestors were also attacked.

Moosa has said that the protests should be treated in the same way that slogans calling for the murder of non-Muslims, published “by accident” yesterday on the Maldivian website 23December.com, are being investigated by police.

The website is currently organising a protest to “defend Islam” on December 23. The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) recently announced its intention to hold a counter-rally on the same date.

According to Haveeru, Moosa said the rising number of religious activities are the “first in a series of events conspired to create chaos in the Maldives”. He insisted that the protest threatens national security, and admitted that MDP’s decision to protest against the religious rally would create further problems.

Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair today said that those organising the public demonstrations to protect Islam had a “hidden agenda”, and had “increased the scale of danger to public order”.

According to a statement published on the President’s Office website, Zuhair claimed religious scholars Sheikh Adam Shameem bin Ibrahim and President of Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran Abdullah had publicly associated their names and images with the 23December.com website. He believed that their reputations as respectable scholars were at risk over the affair.

Although the violent slogans were removed and said to be the result of hacker activity – at one staged blamed on intelligence officials – Zuhair called the removal “meaningless, because newspapers and internet websites are usually published as daily editions.”

The publishers have not refuted their violent objectives by simply removing the slogans published on their inaugural edition, he added.

Head of the National Security Committee and Thodoo MP Ali Waheed noted that the cases were of national interest and would be put on the agenda soon.

Moosa further claimed that the religious agitation was a reaction to the country’s successful tourism industry. “The Maldives’ tourism industry’s growth has attracted the foreign eye”, and foreigners are joining hands with locals to create national instability, he claimed.

Secretary General of Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) ‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim said the recent political and religious activity has not affected foreign investment or tourism.

“By and large, the Maldives is peaceful and a good place to invest,” he said.

He said MATI is not taking a stand on the issue.

“All people have the right to express themselves according to their constitutional rights. All we are saying is that you have to present a balanced picture of what’s going on. There is enough written about the Maldives for people to decide for themselves” if and how to invest, he said.

Foreign travelers and investors are not concerned about the politics on Male’ and other islands, Sim explained.

“The question for them is, how safe are their investments and how safe are they on resorts,” which Sim said “exist by themselves.” He added that an investor’s chief concern is whether the Maldives’ legal system enables or protects his/her business.

“The Maldives’ system still makes it very difficult for foreigners who want to invest,” Sim observed. Under the current system, investors wade through “layers and layers of bureaucracy” involving multiple ministries and councils.

“You would assume that foreign investment could be handled by the Ministry of Economic Development, or that a Foreign Investment Services bureau would allow someone to do everything in one go,” Sim suggested. “But often, people are referred to a website for information. Now, it takes time for paperwork to be processed, and too many people are needed to make a decision. It’s very discouraging to an investor,” he said.

Formerly, foreign investment was handled under Invest Maldives. Since the company drifted into an inoperative stasis following the successful GMR bid, Sim said no other government group has actively promoted foreign investment in the Maldives.

“MMPRC [Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation] is in charge but it is hard to see them carrying the Maldives’ banner and selling the various products Maldives offers,” he claimed.

“Environment is the main selling point for the Maldives, and you don’t need to do much to sell that. But someone needs to build confidence and value among investors.”

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Assistant registrar files complaint against Supreme Court

The former Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court, Fathimath Latheef, has filed a case against the court in the Employment Tribunal accusing the court of unlawful dismissal.

According to her lawyer Mohamed Fareed, Fathimath was performing the tasks of a full Registrar prior to her dismissal on September 15.

Fareed claimed that the court did not give her termination notice prior to her dismissal and paid no compensation, accusing the highest branch of the judiciary of breaching the Employment Act.

He also alleged that the court decided to sack Fathimath following a complaint she filed with the Department of Judicial Administration, concerning the sudden transfer of her duties to a newly-appointed Secretary General – an individual who Fareed claimed was the wife of a Criminal Court Judge and member of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).

“Because of the transfer, Fathimath no longer had the right to perform the duties of a Registrar, which was legally entitled to her under court regulations. She wrote to the judges at the Supreme Court regarding the issue, however the matter was not resolved,” Fareed said.

He also accused the Supreme Court of abusing its authority in appointing the Secretary General to the court, adding that the case had already been forwarded to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

Deputy President of the ACC, Muaviz Rasheed, confirmed the case is now under investigation.

Minivan News is currently seeking a comment from the Supreme Court but the office was not responding at time of press.

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Government to monitor corruption allegations, file defamation suits

Cabinet has instructed the Attorney General’s Office to monitor allegations of corruption made against the government, and file defamation lawsuits where such allegations are proven unfounded.

Defamation was decriminalised in the Maldives in 2009, and now carries a maximum penalty of Rf 5000 (US$325). That same year the Maldives jumped 53 places in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index and was upgraded by Freedom House from ‘not free’ to ‘partially free’.

Cabinet’s move comes on the back of growing concern that some such allegations are being made for political purposes, and that fear of their share prices being damaged by the Maldives’ byzantine local political agendas may be a factor discouraging potential foreign investors.

Minister for Economic Development Mahmoud Razee told Minivan News that Cabinet’s intention was to review allegations of corruption against the government, and refer them to police for investigation where justified.

He said the intention was not to take on the duties of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), as “in many cases these are allegations that never reach the ACC.”

The primary objective was to show that the government was taking corruption allegations seriously in the wake of Transparency’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Razee said.

The Maldives rose slightly to rank 134 this year, scoring 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.
Transparency Maldives’ Project Director Aiman Rasheed observed at the time that there was a “systemic failure to address corruption” in the country.

“Corruption in the Maldives is grand corruption, unlike neighbouring countries where much of it is petty corruption,” Rasheed said. “In the Maldives there is corruption across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive, all of it interlinked, and a systemic failure of the systems in place to address this. That why we score so low.”

Razee acknowledged the need for the government to address the corruption index, but emphasised that it did not reflect the actual level of corruption but only its perception – “reflected in our transparency, the availability of information, and right to information.”

Monitoring accusations and investigating or filing defamation cases where justified should show that the government was taking the problem seriously, he suggested, “and show we stick to our principles.”

Allegations of corruption and fractious local politics this year impacted several foreign investors, including mobile security solutions vendor Nexbis and airport developer GMR.

Nexbis shares immediately dropped 6.3 percent on the back of an ACC’s announcement in January that the project was to be suspended after it observed “opportunities for corruption”.

Nexbis issued a statement at the time claiming that speculation over corruption was “politically motivated” in nature and had “wrought irreparable damage to Nexbis’ reputation and brand name.”

“Although we understand that the recent media frenzy and speculation of corruption are politically motivated in nature and not directly related to Nexbis, it has had an indirect impact on our reputation and brand name,” the company said.

The ACC has since forwarded corruption cases against former Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of Finance Ministry, Saamee Ageel to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), alleging the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in granting the project to Nexbis.

On Thursday last week GMR shares on the Mumbai stock exchange fell 7.57 percent on the back of a Civil Court ruling against the company’s proposed US$25 Airport Development Charge (ADC), included in the concession agreement signed with the government. The suit was filed by the opposition-aligned Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP).

Razee acknowledged that while political parties were obliged to behave in a professional manner, given the tumultuous political environment “Yes there is a possibility that [corruption allegations] will be used for political purposes.”

Razee noted that investors sometimes struggled to raise finance in Maldives as it was not a weighted country, and faced potential difficulties “if a contract turns sour”, due to the lack of arbitration. Both problems were highlighted in World Bank assessments, he said, but added that the government had a bill pending for a proposed Mercantile Court, staffed by foreign judges with a separate seal and special jurisdiction to solve disputes involving business transactions.

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Police arrest four men for attempted sexual assault of 15 year-old girl

Police have arrested four men on accusations of attempting to sexually assault a 15 year-old girl on Nolhivaramfaru in Haa Dhaalu Atoll.

According to Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam, the girl was attacked by the four men on Sunday night. The girl escaped the attempted assault with no injuries, he said.

Local news outlet Sun reported that the girl was attacked while “out on a date with her boyfriend” around midnight. The pair tried to escape but the girl was caught by the group and threatened with a knife to perform sexual acts.

The girl reportedly escaped from the clutches of her attackers while they were taking her to an isolated location in the island’s jungle.

This year has seen increasing reports of sexual assaults on women and children, including gang rapes.

In October, police arrested two men and a minor on suspicion of raping an Indian nurse working in the island of Gulhi in Kaafu Atoll.

In another attack in September, group of five men including the chairman of an anti-drug NGO allegedly drugged and raped a 15 year old girl on the island of Guraidhoo in Kaafu Atoll.

In August police also arrested five men on the island of Innamaadhoo in Raa Atoll for allegedly raping a 16 year-old girl

A another group of five were arrested on suspicion of gang raping an 18 year-old girl on Maabaidhoo in Laamu Atoll.

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) and the Department of Gender and Family Protection Services had earlier strongly condemned the recent “atrocities” of sexual violence against minors, women and persons with special needs.

In an earlier press release , HRCM noted that the prevalence of sexual violence against the most vulnerable members of society, such as the elderly, under-age children and the disabled has “reached worrying levels.”

“We call on the government, state institutions, political parties, civil society organisations and all citizens to work together with renewed courage to stop such inhumane actions, save the community and establish a secure environment,” reads the HRCM statement.

According to Sub-Inspector Shiyam, police investigations have revealed a similar trend in most of the sexual assault cases.

Shiyam said that the girls are were attacked after being “lured by their boyfriends or friends to an isolated location at late hours”. In some cases girls were “lucky enough” to escape from the perpetrators, although in a few cases they were gang raped, he added.

He urged parents to be “more responsible with their children” adding that it is not advisable to let girls hang around outside with their boyfriends at late hours.

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Border loopholes benefit human traffickers: Immigration Controller

“If one country has a loophole, all countries suffer,” said Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid, referring to the Maldives’ lack of a border control system amidst rising concerns over human trafficking. “The present border control system is only helping human traffickers.”

Authorities have reported a daily increase in human trafficking to the Maldives, particularly in the case of expatriate workers. The industry has a calculated value of US$123 million, making it the second largest contributor of foreign currency.

“This is a serious issue, there are about 40,000 illegal workers in the Maldives right now,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem. “A border control system would be useful, especially in the future for maintenance. But there is a lot to do within the country as well, and we are currently trying to address these matters.”

The Maldives currently uses an eight year-old, outdated border control system. Plans to upgrade to a modern system have been delayed for over a year on allegations of corruption.

In November 2010, the government approved a Rf500 million (US$39 million) Border Control System by Malaysia’s Nexbis Limited, proposed by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

Shortly thereafter, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) requested that the agreement be halted due to “a serious public complaint” alleging corrupt dealings. The President upheld the ACC’s request in January 2011, by in May the Cabinet approved the program.

The ACC subsequently renewed its concerns and filed a case at the Civil Court and submitted a report to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office earlier this month. The report accuses Former Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of Finance Ministry, Saamee Aqeel, then head of the Tender Board, for allegedly abusing their authority for undue financial gain.

Nexbis threatened legal action over the delay, citing millions of dollars in losses over equipment already imported to the Maldives. Shahid noted that the equipment is still sitting in Customs.

Immigration matters

Shahid said the public misconception that Immigration is a mundane department doing no-brainer tasks has led to a general misunderstanding of need for a border control system.

“Immigration personnel have to be trained to detect forgery, to profile passengers–we recently had courses for officers on how to detect physical alterations like makeup.

“In general, the public is not aware of the system’s value. It is to everyone’s benefit, even distant countries, to have a strong border control system in the Maldives. Terrorism and human trafficking involve other countries and their borders. If we have good communication, starting at Immigration, and a system, then we have good results.”

Currently a passport check requires an individual to manually scan hundreds of photographs, Shahid said. Without the key components of a modern system – facial recognition, finger-print identification technology, and eye scans – “people who were deported on criminal violations can re-enter the country. If they have a new or fake passport, we rarely detect them with our current system,” Shahid explained.

“A passport is just a piece of paper nowadays. The modern system, with the recognition technology, is almost a 100 percent guarantee of proper identification,” he added.

Nearby Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia have been using modern systems for years.

“I think the proof is strong enough”

Shahid believes that cases against Ibrahim and Aqeel will be difficult to ignore in a court of law.

When the Nexbis system was first considered, a proposal was sent by Immigration to the National Planning Council. According to Shahid’s review of the documents, the final contract drafted deviated significantly from the initial proposal.

“The proposed system could be implemented in six months for US$4-5 million, with the company charging a further US$150-200 thousand per year for maintenance,” he asserted.

“According to this, the Maldives would pay US$8 million in the first year to Nexbis. Over 20 years that would be US$4 million paid annually. That’s fair. But right now the Nexbis plan is one-third of the budget.”

Taxes are also a consideration, particularly given the high numbers of foreigners and expatriates traveling through the Maldives.

“In 2011 we are reaching 1 million foreign arrivals. If we charge US$2 for arrival and US$2 for departure, that’s US$4 per person. Annually, the government would collect US$4 million for Nexbis. It would break even.”

Nexbis proposed these charges as part of its 20-year contract with the government in 2010.

“This means that neither the government nor the Maldivian public have to pay in exchange for a state-of-the-art border security protection,” Nexbis earlier claimed.

Shahid also noted that GMR is expanding Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to accommodate 3 million arrivals annually, indicating that revenue will increase.

Nexbis also planned to levy a US$15 fee for expatriate identification cards. With the current 100,000 registered expatriates, Shahid said, the company receives US$1.5 million annually from expatriate cards alone.

“Nexbis will get US$27.5 million in 2025, according to the current statistics,” he said. Calculating for a gradual increase of arrivals over the next 20 years, “the generated revenue could build an airport of GMR’s standards and implement an up-to-date border control system.”

According to Shahid’s calculations, the approximate cost in the first year of installment and operation (US$8 million) of a Nexbis-quality border control system is far lower than the cost proposed in the final contract (US$39 million).

Shahid earlier estimated that maintaining a free system given by a donor country would cost at most several hundred thousand dollars a year, and said he was unsure as to why such an agreement had ever been signed.

“I don’t know much about the details of the ACC’s report,” he concluded. “Since I saw the contract for the Nexbis system, my argument has always been that the amount charged is ridiculous. It should not be done and must be halted. It is wrong.”

Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim declined to comment on the grounds that the issue was “politically risky.”

The Nexbis case is currently the largest corruption case before the courts and PG, the ACC confirmed. While corruption charges are regularly issued in the Maldives, resolution at the PG level is not so common. Speaking to Minivan News on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, ACC President Hassan Luthfee said that of the 16 cases filed with the PG this year, zero have been addressed.

Vice President Muaviz Rasheed today said the ACC had received no information from the PG, but was hoping for the Civil Court’s ruling by the end of this month.

“The Civil Court has not been cooperative with the ACC on all counts, however the hearings ended in late November and we expect a ruling within the month,” Muaviz said.

Banana republic?

Although Shahid is confident in the court, he is unsure when the Maldives will take actual steps towards updating its border control system.

Without local capacity and expertise to produce a state-of-the-art border control system, the Maldives would turn again to the international market. Shahid said there are many options: “we could go anywhere, we could even get it as foreign aid.”

But after the dealing with Nexbis, withstanding international scrutiny could be difficult.

“Nexbis sees the Maldives as a banana republic that it can squeeze money out of,” Shahid observed.

With a score of 2.5 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and ranking 134th out of 185 countries, the Maldives may not be so inviting to foreign investors.

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Police summon protest organiser, Adhaalath Party President, for questioning

Police have questioned President of the Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Imran Abdullah, and Abdullah Mohamed, head of the NGO coalition  organising a religious rally on December 23, regarding slogans calling for the murder of “anyone against Islam”.

The slogans published on the website, 23December.com, were subsequently removed by the organisers who attributed them to “a mistake on the technical teams’ side.”

Sub-Inspector of Police Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan New that Abdullah and Sheikh Imran were summoned to the police headquarters at 1:00pm on Tuesday concerning a case under investigation. He did not reveal any further information.

However speaking to the press after police questioning, Abdullah and Sheikh Imran’s lawyer, former State Minister of Islamic Ministry Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, confirmed that police asked them about the slogans published on the website.

Shaheem said that slogans calling for murder were not on the website when it was launched, adding that the “content were manipulated by some people spying on the website”.

Abdullah who is the lead organiser of the the protest, also told Minivan News on Tuesday that they had not seen the slogans calling for murder until the day after the launch. “We corrected the mistake as soon as it was brought to our notice,” Abdullah said.

He said the slogans were earlier attributed as a “mistake on technical team’s side” after they identified some loop holes in the website security, adding that their “suspicions were confirmed” when the website was hacked on Tuesday morning.

The hackers replaced the website with green skulls and a statement reading “We’ll come out against you with machetes if you protest.”

Abdullah restated that the protest will be a “peaceful gathering” and they would ensure “no violence takes place from their side”.

However, he raised concerns over the attacks on their website and groups opposing the protest noting that “they might create violence during the gathering”.

Speaking at a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally last night Mohamed President Nasheed has promised that should the protests target Maldivians, “The government and MDP will come out in defence of the people. We’ll not come out on the streets with the defence forces but with bare hands. No one can confront us on these streets,” Nasheed was reported as saying.

MDP national council has meanwhile passed a resolution today, to stand against the religious rally.

The resolution was passed with 45 votes out of 52 members who participated in the council meeting.

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