Month: October 2012

President Waheed departs for Faafu Nilandhoo

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and First Lady Ilham Hussain departed for Faafu Atoll Nilandhoo on Friday afternoon.

According to the President’s Office, the President will also visit some islands of Dhaalu Atoll and observe activities carried out during the Eid holidays.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed meanwhile left for Haa Dhaal Kulhudhufushi on Thursday and attended a public feast after Eid prayers yesterday at the largest urban center north of the capital Male’.

Former President Nasheed as well as the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik on Friday issued greetings and felicitations to all Maldivian citizens on the occasion of the Eid al-Adha.

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MIRA formulates policy for enforcement agencies

The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) has formulated and published on its website the official policy (Dhivehi) for taking action against persons or companies with unpaid taxes, fees, rents, royalties or other monies owed to the state.

Under the approved guidelines for the relevant authorities to take measures against non-compliers, the government could refuse to provide services, cease business transactions and refuse to award contracts for the persons or companies with dues to the state.

Exceptions to the first rule however include basic services provided by the government and services provided by one state institution to the other.

The authorities empowered to take the punitive measures and enforce the policy include the Economic Ministry, Finance Ministry, Transport Ministry, Male’ City Council, Maldives Customs Service and the Department of Immigration.

While the policy will be in effect from November 1, 2012, for the first six months the enforcement agencies should refuse to provide services only to companies that owe monies to the particular authority. However, from May 1, 2013, the relevant authorities would be required to check if the company or person owes monies to MIRA.

The exceptions however do not apply to the Maldives Custom Service and Department of Immigration during the first stage of implementation.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, MIRA began enforcing its policy on ‘Freezing Bank Accounts of Taxpayers’ with unpaid taxes, fees, rents, royalties and other monies owed to the state.

“Since publishing the policy, taxpayers were given a grace period of 1 month to settle all outstanding dues. The process for account freezing has been commenced for 37 taxpayers for failure to settle the dues in the given grace period, and the details sent to relevant authorities to freeze the bank accounts of five of these taxpayers, as of 8 October 2012. Some taxpayers who issued dishonoured cheques were also among those who will have their bank accounts frozen. The total owing from these dishonoured cheques amounts to MVR 450,000 (US$29,182),” reads a news item from MIRA.

Moreover, MIRA has filed a number of cases at the Civil Court to enforce judgments over unpaid rent and fines imposed for late or non-payment.

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Finance Minister to be summoned to committee

Parliament’s Finance Committee decided on Wednesday to summon Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad to the committee before the annual state budget for 2013 is submitted to parliament.

Local daily Haveeru reported last week that members of the public accounts oversight committee decided that the minister should be questioned over MVR 31 million (US$2 million) withheld from the Male’ Health Corporation (MHC), which was reportedly allocated to pay electricity bills for the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

The committee did not however set a date for summoning the minister.

At a meeting of the Government Oversight Committee on Tuesday night, state institutions with overdue electricity bills blamed the Finance Ministry for withholding funds.

The health corporation had the largest unpaid electricity bill with MVR 31 million (US$2 million) owed to the State Electricity Company (STELCO).

STELCO officials informed the Government Oversight Committee that various state institutions owed the government company a total of MVR 174 million (US$11.3 million) in unpaid electricity bills.

Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim meanwhile told Sun Online last week that the annual budget was submitted to parliament with only three weeks to assess the planned expenditure, which was not enough time to seek expert advise for a comprehensive assessment.

“We believe that the budget should be presented to parliament latest during the first week of October,” Niyaz was quoted as saying.

Niyaz suggesting that passing the budget before the end of December resulted in problems with executing the budget items.

Niyaz also insisted that government projects should only be financed by government revenue.

“The law states that expenses can only be made if they are included in the budget. Anyone who releases funds otherwise, is committing a crime. Legal action should be taken against them. The government will not be responsible for that. It is the person’s fault,” he said.

Niyaz went on to say that he did not agree with the government obtaining loans to pay civil servants’ salaries.

“Loans should be obtained for capital expenses. These problems can only be solved by reducing recurring expenses,” the Auditor General was quoted as saying.

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Police make drug busts in three atolls

Police have arrested a number of individuals with illegal narcotics during the past two weeks in Baa Atoll, Addu City and Raa Atoll.

According to police media, a male suspect aged 21 was arrested with 11 packets of hash oil in an operation conducted in Baa Atoll Dhonfanu on October 18.

In a second arrest in Baa Atoll two days later, a female suspect aged 24 was taken into custody with nine packets of hash oil on October 20 from a launch traveling from Male’ to Baa Atoll Thulhadhoo. The arrest was made based on information received by police intelligence and the drugs were found in the suspect’s hand bag.

Both cases are being further investigated by the Baa Atoll Police Station.

On October 23, two male suspects aged 29 and 40 were taken into custody from an uninhabited house in the Maradhoo district of Addu City. The men were caught using drugs and were arrested with 20 rubber packets of suspected heroin as well as drug paraphernalia.

The arrests in Addu City were made based on information received by police intelligence. Both men tested positive for opiates at the Gan Police Station.

Meanwhile, a female suspect aged 20 was arrested on Thursday, October 25 from a boat traveling from Male’ to Raa Atoll Meedhoo. Based on a tip-off to police intelligence, the suspect was arrested from the boat when it arrived in Meedhoo and was taken to the Raa Atoll Ungoofaru Police Station.

Illicit narcotics were found in her possession when she was checked at the police station.

In the same atoll, a male suspect aged 33 was taken into custody yesterday (Friday, October 26) in Raa Atoll Dhuvafaru during an operation conducted by the Dhuvafaru Police Station. A rubber packet containing suspected drugs was found in the suspect’s shorts when he was searched at the police station.

The Dhuvafaru Police Station on October 23 began a special operation to curb crime and traffic violations during the ongoing Eid holidays.

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Bangladesh-Maldives sand deal shelved: Business Standard

A deal in the pipeline last year between the Maldives and Bangladesh to ship sand from Bangladeshi rivers to increase the land level of Maldivian islands in anticipation of sea-level rise appears to have been shelved, according to a report by Business Standard.

“I don’t think the plan is still there. They wanted to export sand to up the land level in defence against rising sea level. We had asked them to dredge and take the sand from our rivers, but they never came back with a complete proposal. I do not think that Maldives has such technical expertise,” Ghulam Muhammed Quader, Bangladesh commerce minister was quoted as saying.

The plan was reportedly conceptualised during a meeting between former President Mohamed Nasheed and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed in 2010.

“Even if, Maldives was willing, there were some pros and cons for the project as it involved environmental issues too,” Quader added.

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Auditor General doubts fisheries subsidies could be released

Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim told local daily Haveeru last week that he doubted whether the government could release MVR 100 million as fuel subsidies for fishermen as decided by parliament’s Finance Committee on October 17.

In an interview with the newspaper, Niyaz questioned the legality of issuing the subsidy, suggesting that it could be in violation of the Public Finance Act.

“If we look at the Finance Act, we have doubts whether these funds could be released. We also have doubts over the strength of the policies set to issue the subsidy. There are question marks over the effectiveness of the subsidy. Questions arise as to why a certain group is benefiting from these funds as subsidy for a period of two months,” Niyaz was quoted as saying.

The Auditor General’s Office was assessing the guidelines approved by the parliamentary committee for issuing the subsidies, Niyaz said, adding that the office has informed the Fisheries Ministry that its recommendations would be submitted to the Finance Committee.

Deputy Minister of Fisheries Ali Solih told local media last week that an announcement inviting applications for the subsidy would be made in the government’s gazette to start issuing subsidies on November 1.

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Thousands attend Eid prayer

Thousands attended the Eid prayers on Friday morning at 16 mosques in Male’, Vili-Male’ and Hulhumale’ as well as the “official” congregration at the Maafanu stadium.

Local daily Haveeru reported that the stadium area was prepared in advance with the ground covered in canvas. President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik participated in the congregation.

President Waheed also extended greetings to the people of the Maldives and Leaders of Islamic countries on the auspicious occasion of Eid ul-Al’haa.

“Highlighting that Eid ul-Al’haa was an occasion to strengthen kindness and friendship among all Muslims, President Waheed noted that Hajj encourages the establishment of harmonious familial and brotherly relations among us,” according to the President’s Office.

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Jalapeno Restaurant closed down after police raid

Police on Thursday night temporarily closed down the Jalapeno Restaurant in Male’ after arresting a number of people caught using alcohol in the premises.

According to Sun Online, police raided the restaurant located at the artificial beach area at 11.45pm and checked the premises in the presence of journalists.

Police reportedly discovered a number of alcohol bottles under the tables on the second floor of the restaurant in addition to packets containing hashish oil and heroin.

The liquor bottles and “suspected” illicit narcotics were displayed to media.

Sun Online reported that those arrested included a waiter and supervisor from the restaurant.

Moreover, an anonymous member of the public told the online news outlet that “young people of both sexes” used the separate open-air section of the restaurant to consume alcohol and drugs.

A police media official informed journalists at the scene that the raid was part of the ongoing special operation to curb crime in the capital.

Police did not reveal the number of people arrested in the raid. Newspaper Haveeru reported that over 20 people were arrested inside the restaurant. Police however told the newspaper that people inside the restaurant at the time were taken in for questioning.

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EC urges public to check party registration

The Elections Commission (EC) has urged members of the public registered to political parties without their knowledge to submit a complaint form before November 18.

In an announcement on the EC website, the commission explained that it was receiving a number of complaints from the public about being registered to a political party without their knowledge or consent.

The EC noted that it had established mechanisms to check party registration either through text messages or on the official website.

A text message sent to 1414 with PPR space followed by the national ID card number would show if the person is registered to a political party. Alternately, the EC website has an online database to check party registration by entering the ID card number.

The complaint form, which is available on the website and the EC office counter, should be submitted if the political party in question fails to comply with a written request to leave the party within seven days, the EC noted. Upon submission of the form, the EC will remove the person’s name from the party registry.

“One of the most important reasons for doing this in the given period [before November 18] is to carry out distribution of funds for political parties from the 2013 state budget in the best possible manner,” the EC stated.

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