Day: May 9, 2012

President provides account of his actions to CNI

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan on Tuesday met with the Committee of National Inquiry (CNI) to provide an account of his actions during the recent transfer of presidential power.

The CNI was set up by Dr Waheed to investigate the legitimacy and legality of the events between January 14 and February 8 following the claims of the former ruling party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), that the change of power was tantamount to a coup.

The Committee which consists of Ismail Shafeeu, Dr Ibrahim Yasir and Dr Ali Fawaz Shareef, has been criticised by the MDP who argue that it was assembled without adequately consulting other parties and that it lacks impartiality. The party has refused to work with the CNI.

This criticism was backed by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) which has given the government a deadline to address its concerns over the commission’s impartiality and independence.

These calls have more recently been accompanied by the Maldivian civil society coalition Thinvana Adu which was particularly keen to encourage the involvement of international experts in the inquiry process.

The government’s response to CMAG’s criticism was, firstly, to criticise the statement as lacking in specific details, before arguing that it had asked the Commonwealth to assist in the inquiry process but had received no response.

More confusion followed as President Waheed claimed that it was not within his remit to change the compositioin of the commission. This statement was followed by a statment from the commission arguing that changes ought to be made by presidential decree and not at the behest of the commission itself.

The CMAG deadline expires in one week’s time, after which the group has threatened “further and stronger measures” which, according to Spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretariat, Richard Uku, could include suspension.

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Six arrested during MDP protest against prosecution of party supporters

Police arrested six people during the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) demonstration held on Tuesday evening to protest against ongoing court cases against its supporters.

According to the party, the Prosecutor General (PG) has filed charges against 60 MDP members for obstruction of police duty during the party’s three-month series of protests. If charges are proved, the accused may be jailed for six months or fined up to Rf 12,000 (US$800) each.

The Criminal Court on Tuesday held hearings against 10 people charged with obstruction of police duty during an MDP rally on March 1.

The six arrested on Tuesday were also detained for obstruction of police duty.

The MDP has been campaigning for fresh elections in 2012 after former President Mohamed Nasheed alleged he was deposed in a coup d’état, carried out by mutinous elements of the police and military on February 7.

Speaking to MDP members on Tuesday night, Nasheed said he was “concerned about the arrest and prosecution of protesters exercising their right to freedom of expression and assembly.”

The MDP continues to rally against prosecution of its supporters with a peaceful demonstration held outside the Supreme Court building at 2:00 pm on Wednesday. At time of press MDP supporters were also gathering outside the Justice Building where the country’s lower courts are housed.

Arrests

Police Spokesperson Hassan Haneef said the six people arrested on Tuesday were detained for obstructing police duty after they broke through police barricades in front of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) building. Five of the six arrested continue to remain in custody.

Haneef also said two police officers had suffered head injuries after protesters threw glass bottles at the officers.

Minivan News observed over a thousand protesters at the MDP rally.

In a statement on Wednesday, the MDP claimed its supporters were pepper-sprayed at close range and beaten with batons on Tuesday night.

Video footage of the protest shows a woman fall to the ground as police officers in riot gear attempt to arrest her.

Court cases

The ten people who appeared in court on Tuesday were arrested during an MDP protest on March 1 which had sought to obstruct new President Mohamed Waheed Hassan from delivering a presidential address at parliament’s opening session on March 1.

According to local media, two policemen gave differing statements on Tuesday’s hearing. One police officer said he had witnessed eight of the 10 men who appeared in court beating police shields, while another policeman said he had only seen five of the ten men beat on police shields during the protest.

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office was unable to confirm the exact number of cases filed at court for obstruction of police duty.

However, Deputy PG Hussein Shameem has previously told Minivan News that 116 cases had been filed against demonstrators regarding unrest on February 8. Riots broke out throughout the Maldives following a brutal police crackdown on MDP supporters in Malé. Court buildings and police stations were set on fire and vandalised during the riots.

“We have submitted 116 cases to the criminal court. The charges we have filed regard obstruction of police duty, assault on police officers on duty, and attempt to assault police officers on duty,” Shameem said.

Freedom of assembly

Speaking to MDP supporters, Nasheed said he condemned the charges against “peaceful” protesters while police and military officers who carried out the “coup” continued to remain free.

“Maldivian citizens cannot accept the prosecution of protesters who raised their voices against treasonous police and military, when we continue to see these officers in front of us,” Nasheed said.

“It is essential that we come out in support of those who are being tried. We gain success only when we find courage in each other to overcome fear. It will be difficult to carry out civil disobedience if we neglect those who are arrested from amongst us,” Nasheed added.

Police have also forwarded two different cases against Nasheed over the discovery of alcohol bottles at his former residence Muleeage on February 7 and the controversial arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed in January.

Video footage of MDP rally on May 8:

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Cabinet confirms decision to take over second MDP protest site at Usfasgandu

The new Maldives’ cabinet has announced its decision to hand over the Usfasgandu area to the Ministry of Housing and Environment.

The area is currently being used for protests by the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), after the party’s site near the tsunami monument was forcibly dismantled by police and military on March 19.

In a statement, the President’s Office said that during discussions concerning “the breach of agreement by the Male’ City Council (MCC) in utilising the land plots and other properties handed over to the City Council by the Ministry of Housing and Environment,” the cabinet had decided “to entrust the Minister of Housing and Environment with the authority to reclaim the properties from the City Council when required.”

Speaking with Mayor Ali Manik at the protest site, Minivan News was told that the government forces would arrive on May 14. Manik said he had received a letter from the Housing Ministry informing them of this plan at 1:30pm today.

Asked about the decision, Minister for Housing and Environment Dr Mohamed Muiz said that he was “not in a position to talk about that.”

The Housing Ministry informed the MCC one month ago that it intended to take control of the Usfasgandu area if the MDP activities did not cease.

During the same week in April the Housing Ministry was involved in a further dispute with the MCC after the re-allocation Dharubaaruge staff members from the MCC to the Housing Ministry.

This action prompted the council to lock the doors to the centre and send staff home. This action was subsequently described by Muiz as “unlawful” before policemen arrived to reopen the facility.

The following week the Housing Ministry informed the MCC by letter that it had less than 24 hours to remove its employees from the Huravee building in order to accommodate new government ministries.

Deputy Mayor of the Council Ahmed Falah maintains that MCC will refuse to accept these decisions and these disputes must be settled in the courts.

When asked about the current situation in the Huravee building, Falah said things were continuing “as normal. Still we are in there.”

The MDP’s international spokesman and Secretary General of the party’s parliamentary group Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, interpreted these actions as an attack on both freedom of expression and the decentralisation policies of the previous government.

“The coup administration is breaking up the decentralisation concept. The President’s Office is controlling everything – even down to the playgrounds on the islands. They are bringing back Gayoom’s policies of centralisation” said Ghafoor.

Ghafoor questioned the wisdom of the acquiescence of government-aligned parties in the face of such policies.

“They are also curtailing freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) perhaps do not have a good concept of their basic human rights. Do their members consider what will happen to their freedom of expression? Their grassroots supporters may realise this too late,” Ghafoor continued.

The area behind the Dharubaaruge convention centre has been utilised by the now-opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) since security forces ejected them from their camp at the nearby tsunami monument on March 19.

Dubbed ‘justice square’, the camp in the Lonuziyaaraih Kolhu area, had become the hub for opposition demonstrations since the contentious transfer of presidential power on February 7.

The government’s allegations that these activities were of questionable legality prompted its dismantling of the camp and the subsequent court case brought by the MDP leadership.

The dismantling of the camp came at the end of a day on which MDP led protests at the reopening of the People’s Majlis had turned violent.

Multiple casualties were reported from both protesters and security forces. The headquarters of Villa Television (VTV), owned by leader of the government aligned Jumhoree Party (JP) Ibrahim Gasim, sustained significant damage.

The court case, the first incarnation of which was dismissed on a technicality, continues with the issue of land usage forming the backbone of the state’s defense.

The government has argued that the leasing of such public spaces for political activities violates the terms which govern the MCC’s stewardship of such areas.

Hassan Latheef, a member of the MDP’s legal team working on this court case, scheduled to resume on May 13, said that the government had “no grounds” to take the land from the MCC in either the case of Usfasgandu, nor that concerning Rahlugandu.

When asked about the government’s position on the use of council land for political purposes, Latheef argued that there was nothing in the decentralisation act that prohibits this.

“I do understand that anything is acceptable and expected in a police state. The country is being taken from the people by a few coup leaders. The Maldives is now a police state,” Latheef contended.

Blocking the steps leading to the raised area used for the MDP’s gatherings at Usfasgandu, a sign read: “No court order, don’t take this place.”

The original ‘justice square’ camp was leased to the MDP by Male City Council (MCC), itself established through the 2010 decentralisation act under the governance of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

In a clear refutation of this argument, the MCC made the decision to lease the Usfasgandu area to the MDP for a three month period within days of the party’s ejection from the tsunami monument area.

The MDP was widely supported by urban populations of the Maldives in last year’s local council elections, securing 100 percent of the council seats in Addu City in the south and Kulhudhufushi in the north, and nine of the 11 seats in the capital Male’.

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Police arrest 47 Bangladeshi nationals after raid on unregistered security firm

A total of 47 Bangladeshi nationals working for a local security firm were seized on Thursday by the Department of Immigration as part of a wider crackdown on unregistered migrant workers.

The detention of the expatriate workers comes after police late last year reported a “day-by-day” increase in human trafficking in the Maldives.  The Maldives Police Service’s claims were based on a surge in the numbers of illegal expatriate workers found in the country.

Assistant Controller of the Immigration Department Ibrahim Ashraf told Minivan News that the 47 Bangladesh nationals were all apprehended following a raid of a company providing security guards that was not registered to employ foreigners.

Ashraf claimed that the company the men had been working for had been in operation for 10 -12 years, yet no information could be found on its operations.

“During the raid, we found 47 Bangladeshi nationals all wearing security uniforms along with equipment like walkie talkies and badges,” he said. “They were not registered for this work and we could not find any records linked to the company.”

While the Department of Immigration has said that it was not cracking down specifically on security firms employing expatriate workers, Ashraf added that concerns remained about ensuring the industry had correctly licensed its foreign staff.

“Until recently, the Ministry of Human Resources did not provide [expatriate] work quotas to security firms,” he said. “There has been a growing demand among local businesses to hire security services. The Ministry of Human Resources has therefore begun issuing quotas for hiring expatriates in security services.”

Ashraf added that the Immigration Department’s concerns were not focused just on security firms, but instead on companies from various industries that had failed to obtain and then correctly register staff.

“Right now we are looking for expatriate workers on the run. We have received a lot of reports from employers about staff going missing,” he said. “This is especially true in the outer atolls, where we are getting complaints about unregistered employees travelling between islands.”

Ashraf claimed that the 47 Bangladeshi nationals who had been detained Thursday would not necessarily be deported if a sponsor could be found to provide employment and accommodation for them.

“We will try and give the employees the opportunity to stay here and work if a sponsor is willing to regularise them,” he said.

High Commission

The High Commission of Bangladesh in Male’ said it had been made aware of the 47 detained workers, who had been seized for not having proper documentation.

The commission said it was often notified regarding such cases, and was presently awaiting travel documentation for the detained expatriates before considering possible deportation.

The High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal, said today that he believed workers from the country were regularly being brought to the Maldives to perform unskilled work, usually in the construction industry.  Awal alleged that upon arriving, expatraites from Bangladesh were suffering from the practices of “bad employers”.

“This is a real problem that is happening here, there have been many raids over the last year on unskilled [expatriate] workers who are suffering because of the companies employing them. They are not being given proper salaries and are paying the price for some of these employers,” he said.

Rear Admiral Awar added that it was the responsibility of employers to ensure expatriate staff had the proper documentation and suitable living standards.

Concerns about the treatment of expatriates from across the South Asia region were also shared by Indian High Commissioner Dynaneshwar Mulay. Speaking to Minivan News last month, Mulay raised concerns over the general treatment of Indian expatriates in the Maldives, particularly by the country’s police and judiciary.

Mulay claimed that alongside concerns about the treatment of some Indian expatriates in relation to the law, there were significant issues relating to “basic human rights” that needed to be addressed concerning expatriates from countries including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Mulay’s comments were made following an alleged attack on a Indian resort worker, who was reported to have been struck with a hammer and mugged while staying in a hotel in Male’. The attack was allegedly committed by a former employee of the same resort.

Big business

Beyond concerns about the basic human rights of foreign employees in the country, labour trafficking is also believed to represent a significant national economic issue.

An ongoing police investigation into labour trafficking in the Maldives last year uncovered an industry worth an estimated US$123 million, eclipsing fishing (US$46 million in 2007) as the second greatest contributor of foreign currency to the Maldivian economy after tourism.

The authorities’ findings echo concerns first raised by former Bangladeshi High Commissioner Dr Selina Muhsin, reported by Minivan News in August 2010. The comments by Mushin were made shortly after the country was placed on the US State Department’s Tier 2 watchlist for human trafficking.

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STO, BML and MTDC fined over financial statements

The Capital Market Development Authority (CMDA) has fined three public companies including the Bank of Maldives (BML), State Trading Organisation (STO) and the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation up to Rf120,000 (US$7782) for failing to publish quarterly reports and financial statements.

According to the CMDA, companies – including BML, STO and MTDC – listed under under the Securities (Continuing Disclosure Obligations of Issuers) Regulations must produce a quarterly report after every three months, within the following 30 days.

However, CMDA noted that both STO and MTDC had failed to produce first quarterly report for 2012 within the given 30 day period and therefore each company was fined upto Rf30,000 (US$2000).

Meanwhile, MTDC and the BML were each fined up to Rf30,000 for failing to publish annual financial statements as stipulated under the regulations. The statistics must be published within four months after the end of a financial year.

The companies had requested for deadline extension citing difficulties in producing the report within the given time frame, CMDA said. However the extension was not granted as the reasons provided were not acceptable, the authority claimed.

All the companies have been instructed to publish the reports by May 15.

BML was fined up to Rf10,000 (US$648) in January, after the bank failed to publish the quarterly report for the last three months of 2011 before the requested due date.

The bank said at the time that the report was delayed due to a pending audit.

“The fourth quarterly report requires more work as it must be published with annual figures that must be audited prior to publication,” BML said.

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Foreign Ministry slams “baseless” allegations against Indian High Commissioner

The Foreign Ministry has issued a statement condemning “in strongest words” allegations made by senior Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) officials to India’s Open magazine, among them that Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar M Mulay had failed to pass critical information to the Indian government on February 7.

“The allegations made in the article against the Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives are totally baseless and unfounded,” the Foreign Ministry stated.

“The government and the people of the Maldives have the utmost respect for High Commissioner Mulay and his contributions to further strengthening the close bilateral relations between the Maldives and India. While the government of Maldives fails to understand the motives behind such unacceptable allegations made in respect of an esteemed diplomat of Mulay’s caliber, it may be recalled that close aides of President Mohamed Nasheed have in the past leveled similar allegations against President Waheed, the Maldives National Defence Force, the Maldives Police Service and all other political leaders of orchestrating the transfer of power,” it said in a statement.

“The government hopes that MDP will refrain in the future in accusing close allies of the Maldives.”

The MDP maintains that President Waheed’s government is illegitimate following Nasheed’s resignation “under duress” on February 7.

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High Court rules Deputy Solicitor General cannot represent state in ACC lawsuit

The High Court has ruled that Deputy Solicitor General Ahmed Usham cannot represent the Attorney General’s Office (AG) in a case forwarded by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the Nexbis border control contract.

In a hearing Monday, the High Court said Ahmed Usham, appointed by the AG’s Office to defend the state, was a member of the tender evaluation board that originally awarded Nexbis the contract . It ruled that Usham’s involvement in the process therefore represented a “conflict of interest”.

The High Court added that having Usham as a representative for the government would not be appropriate to continue the case, which was related to the tender evaluation process of the contract.

The court body said the decision was made was by the three presiding judges Dr Azmiraldha Zahir, Abdulla Hameed and Yousuf Hussain.

The case was first filed at the Civil Court after the previous government defied an ACC order to discontinue the Nexbis border control system project.  The ACC claimed that there might have been corruption involved in awarding the contract to Nexbis and asked parties to re-submit their bid for the contract.  Nexbis denies the allegations.

In a previous ruling, the Civil Court issued a declaration that there was no legal grounds for the Immigration Department to follow the ACC’s order to stop the border system.  The case has now been filed by the ACC at the country’s High Court.

Meanwhile, newspaper ‘Haveeru’ reported that a hearing was held yesterday where the state attorney told the High Court bench that the Home Ministry had asked the Immigration Department to stop the border control project.

The state attorney told the High Court bench that the Home Ministry had sent a secret letter to the Immigration Department.  The letter could not be given to the ACC, but was able to be shown to the presiding judges, reported Haveeru.

The paper also reported that lawyers for the ACC contended that the Immigration Department was still continuing with the Nexbis project.

Legal authority

The Civil Court in January 2012 ruled that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) did not have the legal authority to order the Immigration Department to terminate the agreement.  Judge Ali Rasheed said at the time that while the ACC Act gave the commission the authority to investigate corruption cases, it was not able to annul contracts.

Judge Rasheed asserted that it was “unfair” to contractors if the ACC could annul an agreement without their input, as this violated their protections under Maldives Contract Law.

In December last year, the ACC forwarded a corruption case against former – and now reappointed – Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG).  The case, which also implicates Saamee Ageel, Director General of the Finance Ministry at the time, alleged that the pair had abused their authority for “undue financial gain” in giving US$39 million to Nexbis as agreed under the deal.

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Large discrepancies in Transport Ministry’s financial records: audit report

Auditors have found large discrepancies between the financial records maintained by the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the general ledger kept by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

According to the Transport Ministry’s 2010 audit report, the ministry’s records show that a total of Rf26 million (US$1.7 million) was spent on purchasing  information technology hardware, while the Finance Ministry’s ledger for National Center for Information Technology had no record of the expense.

Meanwhile, income received as Driving Licence Insurance Fee was recorded in the Transport ministry’s books as Rf229,935 (US$14,911) more than the amount stated in the Finance ministry’s ledger while the total income received by the Transport Authority in 2012 was recorded as Rf2.3 million less in the ministry’s ledger.

The latter discrepancy occurred because the ministry had not updated their records with the income generated from ministry’s services provided in the atolls under the Decentralisation Act, the report said.

Furthermore, Rf47 million (US$3 million) allocated to three regional airports in 2010 were recorded as expenses in the ministry’s financial statements, although  auditors found a sum of Rf947,014 (US$61,500) remained unspent in the respective airport’s bank accounts.

Over Rf 600,000 (US$39,000) received as revenue to the Kadhoo Regional Airport between November 2008 and February 2010 was not deposited to the state’s consolidated revenue account, the report added, while  poor management of  airport’s invoices and records made it difficult for auditors to determine how much money is owed to different parties or supposed to be received as income.

Auditor General Ibrahim Niyaz observed in the report that the the ministry had not “identified and reconciled” the aforementioned discrepancies.

The ministry also did not compile its financial statement in accordance with ‘International Public Sector Accounting Standards’ (IPSAS) as stipulated by regulations under the Public Finance Act, and as a result lacked important information such as detailed disclosure notes, Niyaz added.

Therefore, Auditor General refrained from providing an opinion of the ministry’ financial statements and instructed to adjust the figures accordingly to remove discrepancies and compile it in accordance with IPSAS.

The report further noted that the ministry had purchased equipment without the stipulated bidding process and had assigned maintenance of traffic lights to a company prior to signing the contract, thereby violating public finance regulation.

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