Category: News in Brief

DQP MP Riyaz Rasheed loses case against STO

The Civil Court on Thursday ruled in favour of the State Trading Organisation (STO) in the claim filed by minority opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed contesting changes STO made to its agreement with Riyaz’s company Meridian Services.

Meridian Services argued in court that STO in August 2010 lowered its credit limit from Rf20 million (US$1.5 million) to Rf10 million (US$778,210) and shortened the payment period from 40 to 30 days without consulting the company as stipulated in clause 15.3 of the agreement.

Judge Abdulla Jameel Moosa however ruled that as STO had given a month’s notice of the changes in writing on 29 August, 2010 and clause 15.2 of the agreement authorises the government company to lower credit limits and payment periods, there were no grounds to establish breach of contract.

Local daily Haveeru meanwhile reports that STO has sued Meridian Service to recover over Rf19 million (US$1.4 million) owed for oil released on credit as well as Rf384,198 (US$29,800) as fines for non-payment.

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Civil Court suspends Champa’s Rf100 million fine for environmental damage, as case begins

The Civil Court has issued an injunction on the Rf100 million fine levied against local business tycoon Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa, by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for illegal reclamation work on Thunbafushi, reports Haveeru.

Champa’s lawyer, former Attorney General Azima Shukoor, is contesting that the EPA violated the constitution and the Environment Protection Act by imposing a fine on him.

The EPA labelled Champa an “environmental criminal” for irreversibly damaging the island of Thun’bafushi and the marine ecosystem of Thun’bafalhu.

After three surveys of the area, the EPA assessed the damage as amounting to Rf2,230,293,566 (US$144.6 million), not including the impact of sedimentation from the dredging which can smother coral kilometres from the site.

A foreign consultant who was involved in surveying the island told Minivan News in an earlier interview that the area “seems to have been used as a dumping ground.”

“There were what looked like hundreds of used car batteries, waste metals and oil drums leeching into the marine environment,” the consultant said.

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Safe recovered after hotel robbery

A safe stolen from the Marble Hotel hotel by a group of masked men has been recovered by police, reports Haveeru.

The safe was found in a house in Henveriu, although police did not confirm whether it still contained the Rf100,000 the hotel said had been in it at the time of the robbery.

Police are investigating the robbery but have yet to make any arrests.

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Return to politics casts Gayoom as the one who undermined democracy in the Maldives, not introduced it: Eurasia Review

Gayoom’s return to active politics is creating instability in a country that is trying to manage a smooth change over from three decades of authoritative rule to one of multi party democracy, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

“In my view his entry may cause some ripples, but this will not change the steady consolidation of democracy that is already taking place. The MDP under the present President Nasheed is seen to be gaining strength though confrontational politics may continue for long until the party gains sufficient strength in the Majlis.

A case in point is the observation made by Gayoom in a meeting to mark the seventh anniversary of the introduction of the Reform Agenda during his regime. He said that Maldivians never had a true democracy (his regime included) and made a famous statement: “ A system under which a country’s citizens live in fear of political oppression and persecution is not a democratic system at all.”

If he was referring to the period during his regime of thirty years, one cannot but agree but it is not so now. Did he not jail the present president under terror laws when the latter was protesting peacefully during his regime? Did he not hound out his predecessor Ibrahim Nasir and his whole family and relatives and banished them from the country? After making a deal with the ruling party, and accepting generous retirement benefits, is he not trying to come back to politics by trying to demolish a leader chosen by him as his successor in the party created by him?

To cap it all, he said that true democracy could only be delivered to the Maldivian people by winning the 2013 presidential election. Perhaps he is referring to himself!

This can be seen from the fact that Gayoom formally took over the leadership of the rival DRP faction known as Z-DRP (Zaeen DRP) on 1st of June this month. A formal meeting between representatives of Thasmeen Ali’s DRP (original DRP!) and that of Gayoom took place some days ago but the differences appear to be irreconcilable. Thasmeen Ali is no “push over” either and he has many supporters still.

Gayoom is thus not helping democracy when he weakens the present opposition which is formidable and does keep the government in check. Worse still, unverified allegations inspired by Gayoom and his supporters questioning Thasmeen’s integrity are being made just to discredit the latter.

Gayoom as I had said many times before could have remained in the history of Maldives as the one who had brought in true democracy to country and instead he is likely to be remembered as the one who tried to undermine a fledgling democracy!”

Read more

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MDP takes to the pitch for sixth anniversary celebrations

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has celebrated its sixth anniversary of forming as a political movement with a football match between two opposing teams captained by President Mohamed Nasheed and Parliamentary Group Leader Ibrahim Mohamed Salih.

The two teams were set up to pit government executives within the party against a parliamentary group of representatives. The game, held at Male’s National Stadium, was eventually won 4-2 by Salih and his fellow players.

According to the Haveeru newspaper, it was former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed, who only joined the party last month that proved to be the most valuable player of the day, scoring two goals to secure a Man of the Match accolade.

A spokesperson for the MDP was unable to comment on event or the party’s key parliamentary aims for the next few years.  However, a spectator and MDP supporter present at yesterday’s match exclusively told Minivan News that they were not hugely enamored with the standard of the football on display.

“It was not exactly the World Cup,” the spectator said.

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Economy requires structural changes to address foreign currency crisis, Finance Minister tells parliament

Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz has told parliament that addressing the foreign currency crisis will require structural changes to the economy.

Increasing revenue and reducing expenditure to address the deficit – a legacy of years of printing money and high state expenditure relative to income – was the main solution, he said, as was strengthening regulations and enforcing the use of rufiya as a legal tender, “with no exception.”

The country’s lucrative tourism industry currently charges visitors in US dollars rather than the local rufiya currency, while the central bank’s regulation enforcing the use of legal tender has historically been routinely ignored and rarely enforced.

The rufiya was identified this week by financial news agency Bloomberg as the world’s second worst performing currency after the Suriname dollar,

“The Maldives was caught by the news,” Inaz noted to Minivan News. “It’s unlikely they would have any data on the rufiya before [the devaluation] on April 10.”

The state received US$16 in January, US$19 million in February, US$29 million in March, US$15 million in April and US$23 million in May – a total of US$115 million for the year so far, Inaz told parliament.

The government has indicated to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it intends to pass a raft of new taxation and economic reforms through parliament to modernise the economy, and a package of bills has been submitted by the government.

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Maldivians and expatriates arrested in human trafficking crackdown

Police have arrested a group of Maldivians and expatriates who allegedly attempted to traffic expatriate workers to the Maldives using forged documents.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that a  group was caught but declined to reveal further information, citing a larger investigation.

”Currently police are conducting a major investigation into the Immigration Department and in this case there might be information concerning the investigation,” Shiyam said. ”We will provide details to the press as soon as the investigations are concluded.”

President Mohamed Nasheed this week instructed the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) to temporarily take over the work of both the Immigration Department and elements of the Human Resources Ministry.

MNDF officers are currently staffing the immigration desks, in an effort to isolate the loopholes in the department that the government has alleged are being used to traffic expatriate workers.

Immigration staff have been asked to stay at home until further notice from the President’s Office.

Controller of Immigration Abdulla Shahid told newspaper Haveeru that illegal expatriate workers were costing the government Rf130 million (US$8.4 million) in lost visa fees.

“The investigations include determining whether foreigners have entered into the country illegally, whether people have entered into the country using forged travel documents, and whether the IT systems have been tricked or not,” Haveeru reported Shahid as saying.

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Bank turns to courts over judge’s alleged loan repayment failure

The Bank of Maldives has reportedly turned to the country’s Civil Court in a bid to reclaim Rf2.5 million it alleges was loaned to High Court Judge Abbas Shareef and his father but never paid back.

Haveeru has reported that lawyer Hussein Siraj, who will be representing BML during the trial, claimed at a hearing today that the judge had signed as a guarantor for a Rf 2.5million loan taken out in 2008 for his father Ali Shareef. The bank is now seeking Rf2.6 million in repayments from the original loan within a single transaction.

According to the news report, BML’s lawyer told the court that the finance group sought to sell a mortgaged boat, said to be owned by Judge Shareef and his father, if the requested payment could not be met in a single monetary transaction. Siraj requested that the defendants should also bare the brunt of any charges relating to the sale of the vessel.

Haveeru claimed that the trial is ongoing, though presiding Judge Abdulla Ali is reportedly yet to set a date to reconvene the case following the conclusion of today’s hearing.

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MNSL board approves company shutdown after settling debts

A proposal to dissolve the  Maldives National Shipping Limited (MNSL) has been approved by the company’s board members as the group looks to settle any outstanding debts before ceasing operations.

Haveeru reported that the MNSL board had decided to discontinue its operations after settling the outstanding debts as part of a two stage shut down of the company.

Group Managing Director Ahmed Hameed said that the company would cease to exist under its current name  once debts estimated to amount to US$8 million were settled through a sell-off of assets like cargo ships.

With the Maldives Star, MNSL’s only currently registered cargo ship on its way for India for a possible Rf2.1 million  sale, Hameed claimed that the debts were expected to settled, according to the paper.

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