Day: September 14, 2014

Indian high commission welcomes renegotiation of TATA housing deal

The Indian High Commission has welcomed the successful renegotiation of the TATA Housing development project in Malé.

“The positive developments in the TATA Housing project would definitely encourage more such investments from Indian businesses into Maldives,” read a press release from the Indian High Commission today.

Work on residential apartments will now resume on the Gaakoshi and Arabiyya sites, after a two year delay as the government sought to renegotiate the original terms of the contract.

“Government of Maldives has also given a commitment to transfer back the two sites – Naadhee  and Odean, which were taken back by Government for specific purposes, and provide other timely clearances to the company,” the statement continued

The initial agreement was signed in May 2010 between the government of Mohamed Nasheed and Apex Realty Pvt Ltd – a joint venture between TATA Housing Development and SG 18 Realty.

Work commenced on the premises, but was later halted due to pending resolution of numerous contractual issues.

“Despite a two-year delay, due to certain external and unavoidable circumstances resulting in hugely enhanced cost implications, M/s Apex Realty, where Tata Housing is a majority shareholder, is committed to deliver the residential apartments to the people and government of Maldives.”

The addendum agreement was signed today between TATA Housing Managing Director and CEO Mr Brotin Banerjee and the Maldives Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure.

Shortly after the project stalled in 2012, officials from Apex Realty reportedly told Indian media of fears that local politics were derailing their investments in the Maldives.

“The agreement has firm assurances from both Government of Maldives and TATA Housing,” read today’s high commission statement.

Relations between the Maldives and India cooled following the premature termination of the GMR airport development deal – also signed under the Nasheed government – in late 2012.

After being reviewed in a Singapore court of arbitration, the GMR deal was recently ruled to have been legal and binding, leaving the Government of Maldives liable for damages incurred by the Indian company.

Since assuming the presidency in November 2013, President Abdulla Yameen has sought to improve investor relations, expressing his hope that Indian companies continue to invest in the Maldives.

The current government’s controversial flagship legislation – the recently passed Special Economic Zones Act – is intended to attract further foreign investment.

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Majority of Maldivian jihadists ex-military, claims former President Nasheed

The vast majority of Maldivians jihadists fighting in Syria are former officers of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), former President Mohamed Nasheed has claimed, warning of the rise of Islamic extremism in the Maldives.

In an interview with the Independent newspaper in the UK during a visit to London, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) president claimed that up to 200 Maldivians were presently fighting in Syria and Iraq.

“Radical Islam is getting very, very strong in the Maldives. Their strength in the military and in the police is very significant,” the opposition leader was quoted as saying in a story that appeared online today.

“They have people in strategic positions within both. Of the 200 people who have gone to jihad, the vast majority are ex-military. What’s happening is they are taking people in for training and they will go away [to fight abroad]. They are using the Maldives military to train their people.”

In May, the MDP claimed that extremist ideologies were prevalent in the security services and that most militants traveling abroad were ex-police and military officers.

The Ministry of Defence and National Security dismissed the allegations at the time as both “baseless and untrue” and intended to “discredit and disparage” the military.

Condemning the MDP’s statement, the defence ministry called upon the opposition party to “stop spreading misinformation in ways that could confuse the public”.

At least four Maldivians have reportedly been killed in the Syrian civil war.

Growing radicalism

Nasheed meanwhile blamed an influx of Saudi Arabian funds for the conservative turn of Maldivian society in recent years and suggested that President Abdulla Yameen might tacitly encourage radicalism.

“President Yameen feels he can deal with the Islamist threat later but first he wants to consolidate power,” Nasheed explained.

“He has the Islamists with him and he can’t do away with them. He would deny that but I don’t see the government taking any measures against the Isis flag being displayed on the street and all the indoctrination going on. They have allowed the military to grow beards.”

“They are very short-sighted. Their thinking is that Islam has a lot of support and you can whip up more [political] support with religion.”

Nasheed warned that the government’s position was untenable.

“If you look at how at how Mosul fell – the top brass ran away because Isis had already infiltrated the rank and file,” Nasheed said.

“I have a feeling that our police and military are already taken. Eventually the Islamists will create havoc in the Maldives. I have no doubt about it.”

However, there was no direct threat to tourists who visit the Maldives, Nasheed said, as the extremists did not want to draw attention to a fertile recruiting ground.

“The government wants the money out of tourism. Everybody wants the money out of that. How the tourists behave on their uninhabited islands is nothing to do with us apparently,” he said.

“They are not worried about the hypocrisy of it. Not all worried – they think it’s very clever, and it is. They have two tracks going. You have your money on one track and then you have religion on another track. They think they have found an excellent model.”

Nasheed also suggested that people were afraid to speak out due to death threats and intimidation.

“They are afraid to talk about it because the minute you mention Isis you get death threats,” he said.

IS

On September 5, a protest march took took place in Malé with participants bearing the Islamic State’s (IS) flag calling for the implementation of Islamic Shariah in the Maldives.

‘We want the laws of the Quran, not the green book [Maldivian constitution]’, ‘Islam will eradicate secularism’, ‘No democracy, we want just Islam’, and ‘Shariah will dominate the world’, read some of the placards carried by protesters.

In late August, Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon condemned “the crimes committed against innocent civilians by the organisation which identifies itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”

Dunya’s remarks followed Islamic Minister Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed’s declaration that the ISIS would not be allowed to operate in the Maldives.

“ISIS is an extremist group. No space will be given for their ideology and activities in the Maldives,” Shaheem tweeted on August 24.

The MDP, however, promptly put out a statement questioning Shaheem’s sincerity, suggesting that the words had not been backed up with concrete action by the government.

A Facebook page called Islamic State in Maldives promoting IS in the country was discovered last month, which shared photos of protests calling for a ban on Israeli tourists where protesters carried the IS flag.

A new site called Haqqu (truth) and Twitter account meanwhile sprang up recently featuring IS-related news as well as Dhivehi translations of a sermon by self-proclaimed Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other IS publications.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for Maldives involvement in 21st century maritime silk road

President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jingping has called on the Maldives “to get actively involved” in the creation of a 21st century maritime silk road linking China to the east coast of Africa and the Mediterranean.

In an op-ed published in Sun Online ahead of an official state visit, Xi said Maldives’ strategic location in the Indian Ocean had made it an important stop in the ancient maritime Silk Road.

“China welcomes Maldives to get actively involved in building the 21st century maritime Silk Road by leveraging its own strength. China looks forward to working with Maldives to speedily translate this cooperation initiative into reality so as to boost the development and prosperity of all countries and the rise of Asia.”

According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, the Maritime Silk Road and a separate overland Silk Road will bring “new opportunities and a new future to China and every country along the road that is seeking to develop.”

China envisions a trade network where “goods are more abundant and trade is more high-end,” said Xinhua.

Xi is scheduled to arrive in the Maldives at 5:30pm today along with a 200 strong delegation that includes representatives from major Chinese companies.

The visit marks the first ever trip to the country by a Chinese head of state, and is part of an Asia tour that began with a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tajikistan. After his two-day visit to the Maldives, Xi will also visit Sri Lanka and India.

New Heights

In his op-ed, Xi said China and the Maldives should strengthen political trust, intensify practical cooperation, boost cultural and people to people exchanges and enhance coordination on multilateral issues.

He noted two-way trade between the two countries, particularly in tourism, has been growing in recent years. Chinese holiday-makers now make up nearly one third of all visitors to the Maldives.

“China has been the largest source of tourists for Maldives for four years running. To the Chinese, especially the young people, Maldives is an ideal holiday destination and a romantic retreat.”

He encouraged more Maldivians to visit China for sightseeing and studying, and said the two governments should facilitate travel exchanges and more air routes.

“With these efforts, we will feel close even when we are thousands of miles away from each other.”

Appreciating the Maldivian government’s commitment to the one China policy, Xi said China “will, as always, respect the choice of the political system and development path made by the Maldivian people in light of your national conditions.”

China will pursue close cooperation with the Maldives on climate change and human rights, Xi said.

“The ship of China-Maldives friendship has set sail. I am confident that with our joint efforts, it will brave winds and waves and forge ahead toward an even brighter future.”

According to the Maldives President’s Office, China and the Maldives will sign a number of bilateral agreements on advancing developmental cooperation in various fields, and Xi and President Abdulla Yameen will launch two development projects funded by the Chinese government and implemented by Chinese corporations.

Minivan News understands the two projects include a bridge connecting the capital Malé and suburb Hulhumalé and the development of a new runway at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

China’s rising economic presence in the Indian Ocean region has stoked concerns in New Delhi that China is creating a “string of pearls” that surrounds India and threatens its security, including Chinese investments in ports and other key projects in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

When asked if closer ties with China would adversely impact relations with India or Japan, President Yameen last week said Sino-Maldives economic cooperation would not affect “the very friendly, close relations with India”.

“All these projects are also open to India and we are doing a lot of diplomatic work with India,” he said, referring to his administration’s decision not to sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States as an example of cooperation.

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Police arrest al-Fathuh Hajj group managing director for fraud

Police have arrested the managing director of the al-Fathuh Hajj and Umra group for fraud after the company accepted payments from would-be pilgrims in excess of the quota provided by the Islamic ministry.

Musthafa Mohamed, 68, from Maafanu Excel, was taken into custody on Friday (September 12) around 6pm from his residence in Malé.

Police also searched the residence as well as the al-Fathuh office with a search warrant. The Criminal Court has since extended the remand detention of the suspect to 15 days.

The government has announced that the state Hajj Corporation will now make arrangements for the defrauded persons to travel to Saudi Arabia.

The group was provided a quota of 125 by the government, but charged a 100 additional people, most of whom reportedly paid significantly higher than the normal rate of MVR69,000 (US$4,475) under a ‘VIP package.’

The al-Fathuh company had said arrangements would be made for the additional pilgrims under a quota from a foreign country.

Last week, about 25 families protested outside the al-Fathuh office in the capital after 76 expectant pilgrims were told they would not be able to depart for Mecca as scheduled on Monday (September 15).

Police have urged persons who have made payments to the group to contact the economic crime department as soon as possible on 9790048.

Company told ministry of bankruptcy

Meanwhile, at a press conference on Friday, Islamic Minister Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed revealed that the al-Fathuh group had informed the ministry that it would not be able to take the 125 pilgrims it was authorised to take to Mecca.

The 125 pilgrims were due to depart for Saudi Arabia tomorrow when the company told the ministry that it was “bankrupt”.

The ministry also discovered that the company had not made payments to the airline and the hotel, Shaheem said.

After the company requested assistance, Shaheem said the ministry arranged for an extension from the airline to make payments as the reservations would have been canceled at 12pm on Thursday (September 11).

“However, the company was unable to do it when the deadline elapsed,” Shaheem said.

Shaheem said a task force had been formed at the request of President Abdulla Yameen to make arrangements to send the 125 pilgrims to Mecca. Yameen himself will also conduct the Hajj pilgrimage later this month.

Expenses for the pilgrims in Mecca and Medina would be covered by the government’s Hajj Corporation, he said.

“Tickets have been taken for everyone who had decided to go to Hajj with the company and had obtained visas,” Shaheem said.

At a meeting with the defrauded pilgrims on Friday night at the Islamic ministry, Shaheem reportedly said that the Maldives was getting “a bad name” as a result of Hajj groups failing to make payments on time to agents in Mecca.

An agent came to the Maldives last week and told the Islamic minister that one Hajj group owed him 1.2 million Saudi riyals, Shaheem revealed.

The money had been owed for years, Shaheem said, noting that it amounts to about MVR5 million (US$324,254).

Quota not reduced

Shaheem said the government to decided to cover the expenses of the defrauded pilgrims because the Saudi Arabian government could reduce the 1,000 person quota provided to the Maldives next year if the full quota was not used.

While the Saudi government had reduced quotas for other countries by 20 percent, Shaheem noted that the Maldives quota was not lowered.

Of the 1,000 pilgrim quota afforded to the Maldives by Saudi Arabia, 500 were reserved by the government’s Hajj Corporation while the rest were divided amongst Hajj groups chosen after a bidding process.

In February, the Civil Court and the Anti-Corruption Commission ordered the Islamic ministry to halt the bidding process and revise the criteria for awarding quotas.

The government-owned corporation meanwhile charged MVR69,965 (US$4,537) per person. Performing the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Hajj Corporation Chairperson Dr Aishath Muneeza told reporters that the corporation would attempt to provide the same quality of service to the 125 pilgrims defrauded by al-Fathuh as it would to the 500 pilgrims who would perform the pilgrimage under the corporation’s care.

Muneeza revealed at Friday night’s meeting that the additional pilgrims would cost the corporation MVR9 million (US$583,658).

In a similar case of fraud involving a Hajj group, the owner of the Maleesha Hajj Group, Ismail Abdul Latheef, is currently on trial for defrauding 175 people of MVR12 million (US$778,000), after they made payments to the company in 2012.

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Civil Court rules customs has authority to confiscate imported goods

The Civil Court has ruled that the Maldives Customs Service (MCS) has the legal authority to confiscate goods imported by companies or individuals with outstanding tax payments to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

In a judgment delivered on Thursday (September 11), the court ruled against a claimant, Fuad Zahir from Mariyammage in Gaaf Alif Kolamaafushi, who contested the custom’s seizure of a shipment imported under his name.

The customs had confiscated the shipment due to unpaid taxes.

The MCS was authorised to take the action under import and export laws as well as the Customs Act, the judge noted, and rejected the claim for compensation of losses incurred due to the confiscation of goods.

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Over 35 sentences not enforced, reveals Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed

Some 37 sentences remain unenforced due to lack of cooperation from the relevant authorities, Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed said at a ceremony held last night to mark the anniversary of the Criminal Court.

Judge Abdulla reportedly criticised police for incomplete investigations and lack of attention to the Constitution and the law.

The Criminal Court also lacks a suitable environment for state prosecutors and witnesses to present testimony, he said.

According to local media, Juvenile Court Chief Judge Mohamed Naeem, also president of the Judges Association, said the Maldivian judiciary is now fully independent and free of undue influences.

Prior to the adoption of the new constitution in 2008 – which separated the judiciary from the executive – Naeem said judges and state attorneys would sometimes sit together to write verdicts.

Judges also delivered verdicts and judgments based on instructions from a committee of the now-defunct justice ministry, he said.

Speaking as chief guest at the event, Naeem said judges at the Criminal Court should be provided adequate security and criticised the Supreme Court for not formulating rules on issuing risk allowances for employees in the judiciary.

Responding to criticism over delays in concluding cases, Naeem said the judiciary’s speed was not slow when the number of judges, staff and resources at its disposal was taken into consideration.

The court’s annual report was released at last night’s event and certificates were awarded to staff at the Criminal Court in recognition of their work.

In March 2011, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) demoted Naeem from the Civil Court to the Juvenile Court as a disciplinary measure. A week later, the JSC appointed Naeem chief judge at the Juvenile Court.

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Warning issued to government in Dharumavantha mosque Friday sermon

A stern warning was issued to the government in an unauthorised Friday sermon delivered at the Dharumavantha mosque in Malé.

According to online news outlet CNM and opposition-aligned private broadcaster Raajje TV, the imam of the independent prayer congregation slammed the government’s efforts to shut down the mosque.

The government was trying to declare “war” against the congregation, the imam said, and prayed for failure of the alleged plans.

A prayer was also offered against the government’s alleged efforts against the “true invitation” and for God to strike fear into the hearts of police and army officers who might rise against the true invitation.

In February this year, the Malé City Council shut down the Dharumavantha mosque at the request of the Islamic Ministry to stop unauthorised Friday prayers by a group described as “extremist” by Islamic Minister Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed.

Following a notice posted on the mosque announcing that it would be shut down, the independent congregation gathered for prayers the next Friday and prayed for God to destroy the government and for victory against the “irreligious” government which was attempting to obstruct the spreading of Allah’s message and to shut down mosques.

Requesting victory, they also prayed for God to destroy and send his wrath upon military and police officer who implement the government’s orders.

Despite efforts to shut down the mosque, the independent congregation has continued Friday prayers at the mosque.

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Worry over Xi’s trip to Maldives: The Telegraph (Calcutta)

“Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned visit to the Maldives tomorrow has set off alarm bells in India’s foreign policy establishment amid worries that the atoll nation may, after a brief hiatus, again be swinging strategically away from New Delhi and closer to Beijing,” writes Charu Sudan Kasturi for the Telegraph.

Xi will be the first Chinese President to travel to the country, when he lands in Male on Sunday with First Lady Peng Liyuan and over 100 businessmen. Xi and his wife, one of China’s best-known singers from the 1980s,will then visit Sri Lanka on Monday before flying to India on Wednesday for a three-day trip.

The Chinese President’s visit to the Maldives comes less than a month after its President, Abdulla Yameen, travelled to Beijing and returned with promises of free financial aid and investments in key infrastructure projects.

Yameen, after his election in November last year, had said strengthening ties with India would be his priority following a bruising two years in bilateral relations, and had sent initial signals that comforted New Delhi.

But away from the public eye, relations between India and the Maldives have once again become testy over the past few months over diplomatic and strategic decisions taken by Yameen that hint at a subtle but growing proximity to China, senior officials have said.

‘We’ve been off the ball a bit on the Maldives, and things are tricky again,’ an official said. ‘The Chinese President’s visit to the Maldives is emblematic of that simmering unease.’ ”

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Addu City Council denies disagreement over stadium lights

The Addu City Council has denied President Abdulla Yameen’s claim that a project to install lights at the Feydhoo stadium was stalled due to disagreements within the council.

Newspaper Haveeru quoted Deputy Mayor Abdulla Thoyyib as saying that contrary to Yameen’s remarks in Feydhoo last week, the project to upgrade stadiums in the southernmost atoll was financed out of the city council’s budget.

The project was awarded to the Hithadhoo Southern Maldives Contracting and Trading Company, Thoyyib explained, and remained stalled due to disagreements among youth in the island.

Four youth associations met the council last month and presented plans for installing the lights, he added.

Final preparations were underway to install the lights in accordance with the wishes of the youth groups, Thoyyib said.

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