Day: July 2, 2013

High Court delays Nasheed’s case until he returns from pilgrimage to Mecca

The High Court has delayed the trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed until July 25, after he requested the court grant him permission to leave the country to perform Umrah – a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

High Court Spokesperson Ameen Faisal confirmed to Minivan News that the High Court had informed Nasheed it had no objection to his request.

“Nasheed told the court that he wished to leave the country July 6-25 to visit Saudi Arabia and Dubai,” Ameen said.

“The court regulations state that if a respondent or defendant in a lawsuit wishes to leave the country they have to ask the court for permission.”

Ameen said that the court had not decided on a date for the next hearing of the case.

Nasheed filed a case at the High Court challenging the legitimacy of the panel of judges at the Hulhumale’ court appointed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to preside over his trial, in which he was charged for detaining Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in early 2012.

The case was previously delayed after the Chief Judge of the High Court Ahmed Shareef, who was on the bench presiding over the case submitted by Nasheed, was suspended by the JSC.

A hearing of the case had been scheduled for July 7.

The High Court had previously issued a stay order on the Hulhumale Magistrate Court, requiring it to suspend all criminal trials concerning the arrest of the judge pending a ruling on the legitimacy of the court bench.

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Elections Commission reduces number of ballot boxes, increases polling station personnel

The Maldives Elections Commission has reduced the number of ballot boxes to be provided for the presidential elections by 97, partly in response to resort and staff requests, but also to improve speed and efficiency by increasing the number of voting booths, officials and vote counters at each location.

A total of 459 ballot boxes – reduced from the 556 initially announced – will be required for the September 7 presidential elections, Elections Commission (EC) President Fuwad Thowfeek told Minivan News today (July 2).

“Our earlier prediction was that we’d have to place about 100 ballot boxes to cover the resorts,” said Thowfeek. “But we’ve now decided to place ballot boxes in just 56 resorts because some of them do not want boxes placed on their islands.”

“As an alternative, we’ll place boxes in the islands closest inhabited island and they’ll send their employees [to vote],” he continued.

“Resorts cannot stop their staff from going [to vote] because we have an understanding, an arrangement with them,” he declared. “If they try to stop [their employees from voting] we will take the necessary actions [against them].”

The EC will also place ballot boxes in foreign countries that have a “sizable” Maldivian population, with locations to include: Colombo, Sri Lanka; Trivandrum and New Delhi in India; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore; and London, UK.

“In placing ballot boxes abroad, we’ve considered places where a minimum of 100 people are predicted to register. We’ll open for registrations tomorrow. A total of six boxes will be placed in five countries,” noted Thowfeek.

The EC also plans to place 284 ballot boxes on all inhabited islands, while five boxes will be placed on five different commercial islands, said Thowfeek.

Additionally, all prisons and detention centers will have ballot boxes, five to be placed in each of the five different detention facilities. Male’ will have 103 ballot boxes total, with 48 for Male’ inhabitants and 55 for residents from the islands.

The previous EC estimate of 556 ballot boxes needed would have provided an additional 100 compared to the 2008 presidential election, however now the numbers are nearly on par.

“We thought to include more ballot boxes in Male’ also, however after a lot of work and discussion the EC thought this might not be the proper time to redistribute the ballot areas,” said Thowfeek.

“We want to facilitate voting and the concern was if we split the assigned ballot box areas, people might find it more difficult to understand where the new polling places are,” he continued.

Thus, ballot boxes will remain in the same areas as during the 2011 local council elections.

“Instead of increasing the number of ballot boxes or polling areas, we decided to increase the number of voting booths, officials and vote counters,” said Thowfeek. “This will increase the speed and efficiency.”

“Whereas previously there were seven officials per ballot box, now there are 11, where there was one voting table now there are two, and now there will be two to three booths instead of just one,” he explained. “However, where there is a population of 700 or less seven elections officials will still be present.”

“In addition to the ballot box, there will be EC staff, observers and officers at all polling places,” he noted.

“Voter registration is available from July 1 to August 7,” Thowfeek added.

Resort staff voting

Although the EC’s first assumption was that each resort would need a ballot box, this has been revised based on requests from resorts and Maldivian resort staff.

“The EC decided to do the most appropriate and problem-free thing that will work best for resort staff and the resorts,” Thowfeek stated.

“It’s not that the resorts are not allowing ballot boxes, they have requested the EC to not keep it on their islands. Instead they will be sending their staff to nearby inhabited islands,” he continued.

“It is their preference, it’s more comfortable so the resort is not disturbed by the activity of the day,” he explained. “They will provide the transportation and make all the arrangements, like splitting their staff into groups. When one group goes [to vote], another will come [back to the resort].”

“Resort management has already informed the EC as to the nearest inhabited island to which they will be sending their staff to vote,” Thowfeek continued.

“[Additionally] some resort staff feel more comfortable going to the next island because some staff say if the ballot box is kept on the resort island they are concerned their management might know who voted for certain candidates,” he said.

“In the past this [arrangement] was made for the local council elections,” he added.

While this agreement was made with understanding that resorts will honor their pledges to allow Maldivian staff to vote, other logistical complications that may hamper voters on election day have also been addressed.

“If poor weather conditions affect transportation on the day of elections, the EC members will decide steps to allow resort staff to vote,” said Thowfeek. “If such a thing happens – weather or any other unexpected events – we will see what we can do to find a solution.”

EC Hotline Help

The EC has stressed that they wish to hear any and all issues, concerns, or complaints voters may have in regard to the upcoming elections.

“We are here to listen and check into any problems,” said Thowfeek. “Anyone can call the EC regarding any problem, we currently have 12 lines and will increase the number of reception lines as demand increases.”

Currently the EC hotline is staffed 8:00am to 8:00pm, however as elections day approaches the line hours will be extended, Thowfeek explained.

Maldivians can call or SMS to determine where they are registered to vote, which political party they are registered with, to report any problem or difficulties, and to seek any information.

The Elections Commission hotline is 1414.

The SMS codes for enquiries are as follows:

SMS PPR(space)(ID#) – current political party registration
SMS Voterinformationsystem(space)(ID#) – respective polling place location based on voter registration

Additionally, voter registration, including political party affiliation, can be verified in the Maldives’ government gazette.

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Umar Naseer requests Supreme Court ruling on party membership

Former Vice President of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer has filed for a Supreme Court ruling requesting the court declare how a person becomes a member of political party.

Speaking to local media outlet Sun Online, Naseer said that the procedure as to how a person becomes a member of political party were unclear as per the Political Parties Act. Therefore the case was filed at the court requesting it to make a clarification on the matter, added Naseer.

“It has to be cleared whether a person becomes a member of political party after he submits the form to the party office or whether the person is registered in the elections commission as a member of the said party. This is unclear. This is what I want to seek from Supreme Court,” he said.

The application for the ruling comes shortly after Civil Court dismissed his case challenging the legitimacy of the PPM’s presidential primary in which Naseer lost to Abdulla Yameen.

Naseer has since been removed from the party after accusing his rival of rigging the vote to secure his victory.

The Civil Court ruling stated that Umar Naseer has the opportunity to appeal the decision of the disciplinary committee with the party’s own appeal committee.

The court referred to Naseer’s accusations that the party’s disciplinary committee was under the influence of certain figures within the party, but said he was not able to prove these accusations.

The Civil Court said that unless this was proved otherwise the court had to consider that the disciplinary committee and appeal committee of the PPM were functioning as stated in the party’s charter.

In May, Naseer resubmitted the case at the Civil Court to try and invalidate the outcome of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) primary vote.

The previous case seeking to invalidate the PPM primary was submitted by party member Rahma Moosa, who alleged that thousands of voters were not officially registered with the PPM at the time they cast votes on their preferred party candidate.

Rahma Moosa reportedly filed the case claiming that 8,915 people who were not officially registered as members of PPM had been allowed to vote in the primary. She contended that the move contravened the Political Party Act and compromised the rights of all general members of the party.

Meanwhile the elections commission has expressed concerned over alleged fraud involved in signing members to political parties ahead of the election.

On Tuesday, the Elections Commission sent a fraud case involving President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s Gaumee Iththihaadh Party (GIP) after in found 11 membership forms had been filled out in the name of people who had died long before their signature appeared.

The Chair of the Commission Fuwad Thowfeeq said the commission decided to send the matter to police after it identified evidence of wrongdoing.

“If a person dies, or should their legal age come up to 18 years, they are automatically entered into our database. But in GIP’s case, they have deliberately filled out the forms on [members’] behalf. So certainly there is wrongdoing involved in it,” he said.

He said that the commission was currently probing into a case sent to it by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) regarding another fraud case concerning GIP’s party membership. The ACC claimed of 100 GIP members polled, 85 had no knowledge of ever joining the party.

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Nexbis sends Maldives US$2.8 million bill for operation of border control system

Malaysian security firm Nexbis has invoiced the Department of Immigration and Emigration for US$2.8 million (MVR 43 million) for the installation and operation of its border control system in the country, in line with a concession agreement signed in 2010.

Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali confirmed that Nexbis had submitted a bill seeking charges for the period its system has been in use, as work continues on replacing the Malaysian company’s border controls with new technology provided by the US government.

Immigration officials have said that although “testing” is currently underway on the new US-donated system, Nexbis’ border control technology remains in use at present.

Nexbis’ legal representatives in the Maldives, Suood, Anwar & Co, have requested that within 30 days, the country’s immigration officials pay the company its share of a fee levied on every passenger arriving and departing from the country, Sun Online has reported.

Under the concession agreement signed with the Maldives government, Nexbis levied a fee of US$2 from passengers in exchange for installing, maintaining and upgrading the country’s immigration system.  The company also agreed a fee of US$15 for every work permit card issued under the system.

Nexbis’ lawyers argued that the company had expected the fee to be included in the taxes and surcharges applied to airline tickets in and out of the country, according to local media, but said these payments had not been made due to the government’s “neglect” in notifying the relevant international authorities.

Neither Nexbis or Suood, Anwar & Co had responded to emails from Minivan News at time of press.

The bill from Nexbis follows parliament voting unanimously to terminate the agreement on 25 December 2012, in line with a recommendation from the Finance Committee alleging foul play in the signing of the agreement with former Immigration Controller Illyas Hussain Ibrahim.

Presenting the Finance Committee report to the floor, Chair MP Ahmed Nazim explained at the time that the “main problem” flagged by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was that the tender had not been made in accordance with the documents by the National Planning Council authorising the project.

The Finance Committee also recommended terminating the agreement over concerns it contained clauses to waive taxes to the company, Nazim said. He noted that imposing or waiving taxes was a prerogative of parliament under article 97(d) of the constitution.

Following parliament’s termination of the project in December, Nexbis sought a legal injunction to prevent any cancellation of the agreement while court hearings over the contract were still ongoing.

The company has sought to contest whether the ACC has the power to compulsorily request the government to cease all work in relation to the border control system agreement.

However, in April of this year, the High Court overturned a Civil Court ruling declaring the ACC could not terminate a border control system (BSC) agreement signed by the Department of Immigration with Malaysian mobile security firm Nexbis.

The High Court ruling (Dhivehi) cleared the way for the Civil Court to hear the case filed by the ACC should it be resubmitted.

Nexbis has emphatically denied allegations of corruption, previously speculating that “criminal elements supporting human trafficking” were seeking to sabotage the agreement.

Alternate technology

Department of Immigration and Emigration Spokesperson Ibrahim Ashraf has said he had not been made aware of any official request from Nexbis for payments beyond media reports, and declined to comment on the issue.

Ashraf did confirm that immigration officials were continuing to use the Nexbis system while border control technology being provided free of charge by the US government was under development.

“Testing of the [US] system is now going on, so the Nexbis border control technology remains in use,” he said. “Some minor adjustments have to be done to the [US] system to customise it to our needs.”

US border system

In March this year, the US government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide the Maldives with a border system after several years of uncertainty and legal wrangling over the future of the country’s immigration controls.

Following the signing of the MOU, Nexbis said it had not been consulted or provided with any details of the US government’s agreement to provide the new system to the Maldives.

Representatives for the Malaysian company at the time expressed uncertainty over what the MOU would mean for the group’s own border control technology that has been in use since September 2012, as part of its concession agreement with the government.

Lawyers representing Nexbis said at the time that they were confident the Maldives government would “honour” its contractual obligations under the 2010 concession agreement.

“We are confident also of the support we have received by the Immigration Department in implementing and fully operating the system, but remain cautious of individuals who continue to pose obstacles to prevent the success of this project is stemming the national security issues faced by the Maldives today,” read a statement.

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Thasmeen labels Yameen as “inhuman” for not endorsing two ministers

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s running mate Ahmed Thasmeen Ali – who also heads the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) – has strongly criticised the presidential candidate of fellow coalition party the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) over the parliament’s decision to reject several cabinet appointments.

On Monday, President Waheed’s government faced a major setback in parliament after two out of its three recent cabinet appointments failed to receive the required parliamentary approval.

The new Human Rights Minister Aishath Azima Shukoor and Attorney General Aishath Bisham were reject in close votes, while Transport Minister Ameen Ibrahim narrowly succeeded in getting the required consent.

Shukoor, also Waheed’s former Attorney General, was rejected 33 votes against to 31 in favour with no abstentions, while her replacement as Attorney General, Aishath Bisham, was rejected 32-32, with Speaker Abdulla Shahid casting the deciding vote not to approve her appointment.

Transport Minister Ameen Ibrahim was approved by 33 votes in favour to 32 against, with one MP abstaining.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs followed their party line to reject all three ministers while PPM MPs were largely absent from the floor.

The PPM MPs who remained – including Ahmed Mahloof, rumoured to be considering a switch to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – voted against the party whip line.

President Waheed subsequently re-appointed Shukoor – who had been serving as Gender Minister – to her earlier post of Attorney General, requiring another future vote of consent.

In a short media briefing held after the vote, a frustrated Thasmeen blasted Yameen, claiming that he had purposefully left the parliament floor with his party members to make sure the ministers did not get parliamentary approval.

“PPM MPs under the leadership of its presidential candidate decided not to be present on the floor when the vote took place. Due to that, two ministers were not able to get enough votes to get parliamentary consent,” Thasmeen declared.

PPM was among the many former opposition parties that pledged support to President Waheed following his sudden ascension to power in February 2012, after his predecessor former President Mohamed Nasheed stepped down during a mutiny within the police and military.

PPM has since then maintained that it had supported the government only for the sake of national interest and for the well being of the people.

However, Thasmeen on Monday disputed the claim stating that the real picture of Yameen and his “ruthlessness” had now been revealed to the public.

“It is a great blessing and a very good thing to see this side of Yameen prior to the election. People will see the real face of Yameen,” Thasmeen claimed.

Thasmeen – who was also the running mate of Maldives former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 2008 elections – reiterated that people must judge a candidate whom they would vote in the election by the yard stick of “humanity and humane values”.

“I remember exactly what happened when former President Nasheed unlawfully arrested Yameen [in 2010]. At that time it was Azima Shukoor who worked tirelessly day and night for his release from custody,” he added. “But Yameen forgot about that today.”

Despite the defeat, Thasmeen appeared confident claiming that the current government had a sufficient number of MPs supporting it and such defeats would not be a common occurrence.

Presidential election is more important, says PPM

Justifying the decision to leave the floor during the critical vote, Deputy Leader of PPM Abdul Raheem Abdulla told the media that its presidential candidate had not been present because he had to go on a campaign trip that was scheduled on the same day. He said PPM was currently more focused on the upcoming presidential elections.

Raheem also alleged that President Waheed had become “very personal” against the PPM, and said many individuals who held political positions in the government had been dismissed from their posts after they joined the PPM.

Previously, Home Minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmed – a former member of Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) that has decided to back Waheed’s re-election bid – was dismissed from his position upon the request of DQP’s Leader Dr Hassan Saeed after Jameel joined the PPM to become the running mate of Yameen.

Other members of the DQP, including Deputy Tourism Minister Maleeh Jamaal and State Minister for Economic Ministry Abdulla Ameen, were dismissed from their positions after their refusal to back President Waheed.

Meanwhile, speaking to local newspaper Haveeru from Addu City, Yameen said Azima was best suited for the position of Attorney General and PPM did not want to see her in another cabinet position. Yameen claimed President Waheed had not discussed the matter with the party before appointing her as Gender Minister.

“I was the one who first told President Waheed to appoint Shukoor as the Attorney General. I worked for that. Back then she was a council member of PPM,” Yameen said.

Regarding the new Attorney General Bisham, Yameen said PPM did not support her because the party believed Shukoor was the one who should be in the position.

“The most important thing is who is the most competent person for Attorney General. We were expecting Shukoor to be the attorney general knowing her competence and back then the government listened to what we say,” Yameen explained.

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Prosecutions delayed due to Criminal Court budget shortage: PG

The Prosecutor General (PG)’s Office has been unable to pursue 273 pending cases due to budget shortages at the Criminal Court, PG Ahmed Muizz has revealed to parliament’s Independent Commissions Committee.

“The court will sometimes tell us that it cannot hold trials that require witnesses to be brought to Male from the islands,” Muizz told the committee, according to local media reports. “Sometimes the court will reject the cases. We haven’t prosecuted some cases because we need to find a solution to this issue.”

The prospect of an imminent budget crisis in the judicial system was highlighted by UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, in her extensive report on the Maldivian judiciary published in May.

“The immediate implications of the budget cuts on the judiciary are appalling. For instance, the Department of Judicial Administration only has funds to pay staff salaries until November 2013 and it had to cancel training this year,” Knaul wrote.

“The Civil Court reported that it would not have sufficient funds to pay its staff salaries after October 2013; furthermore, existing budgetary resources would not be sufficient to pay for utilities and facilities after June 2013,” she added.

The Criminal Court spokesperson was not responding at time of press.

Court website hacked

Hackers meanwhile this morning compromised the Criminal Court website, changing it to a black screen with text identifying themselves as Algerian.

“Attacker frOm AlGeria. This server was hacked by Yacine Jocker & xDjamil Jocker ;). skype:xDjamil.Jocker. Nothing Is Impossible [#] Greets: All my Friends,” read the message.

At time of press the Criminal Court website had been taken down and there was no site displaying at the address.

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