Villa sues government over revised rent for picnic island

Villa Shipping and Trading has sued the Tourism Ministry over an increase in rent for the picnic island Kaafu Kudafinolhu, reports Sun Online.

Under the lease agreement made in January 1998, annual rent for the first five years was set at US$1,500.

Villa’s team of lawyers, which includes former Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz, claim that the new government hiked the annual rent to US$47,840 in September 2009 without consulting the company as stipulated in the agreement.

State Attorney Mariyam Shunana however countered that the Tourism Ministry consulted Villa twice before revising the rent.

Judge Ali Rasheed Hussein adjourned yesterday’s hearing after providing the state ten days to respond to the claim.

The Villa Group of Companies is owned by Maamigii MP Gasim Ibrahim, former Finance Minister under the previous government before he resigned to contest the presidency. After joining the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party-led coalition for the presidential election run-off in October 2008, Gasim however resigned as Home Minister of the new administration after 21 days in office.

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Thilafushi Corporation sues ACC

Thilafushi Corporation Limited (TCL) sued the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) at the Civil Court today claiming the commission’s order to stop work on the US$21 million Thilafushi reclamation project awarded to Heavy Load Maldives was not legally justifiable, reports Haveeru.

TCL lawyer Mazlan Rasheed argued at court that the ACC did not have the authority to order the government corporation to scrap the project, which was was both “irresponsible” and “illegal” as the order was made before the commission completed its investigation process.

TCL therefore requests that the Civil Court declare the ACC order unlawful, he said.

ACC lawyer Areef Ahmed Naseer however denied the claims, insisting that the commission acted within legal bounds.

Judge Abdulla Ali adjourned the hearing after granting Naseer’s request to provide the ACC’s defence in writing next week.

Heavy Load, a family business of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP “Reeko” Moosa Manik, was awarded the US$21 million project on September 30 last year, and inaugurated the project on February 4.

Moosa told Minivan News in February that the commission’s order was politically motivated, claiming that “there is a part of the ACC that is not free and fair.”

“PA’s Deputy Leader [Ahmed] Nazim is very close with one of the commission members, [Abdulla] Hilmy, which needs closer investigation,” Moosa said. “I am a strong part of this government and I think this is a political trick. I haven’t even been into the Heavy Load office in one and a half months because of my campaigning [in the local council elections]. It is run by my family, my children.”

In an audio clip of a leaked phone call between Nazim and PA Leader Abdulla Yameen that emerged in July 2010, the Deputy Speaker is heard to say that he has “given warnings” to ACC members to issue a press release regarding dismissed Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem.

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HRCM, Gender Department condemn sexual violence “atrocities”

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) and the Department of Gender and Family Protection Services have strongly condemned the recent “atrocities” of sexual violence against minors, women and persons with special needs.

In a press release today, HRCM notes that the prevalence of sexual violence against the most vulnerable members of society, such as the elderly, under-age children and the disabled has “reached worrying levels.”

“We call on the government, state institutions, political parties, civil society organisations and all citizens to work together with renewed courage to stop such inhumane actions, save the community and establish a secure environment,” reads the HRCM statement.

Calling on the authorities to swiftly bring the perpetrators to justice in its press statement yesterday, the Gender Department warned that the surge in sexual violence cases has created an atmosphere of fear and caused psychological distress to a number of families.

Some 14 cases of child sexual abuse have been reported to the department so far this year, including the case of a Jamaaludheen School teacher arrested for allegedly molesting deaf children under his care.

Eight men were arrested last week in Haa Dhaal Dhidhoo for alleged abuse of a 13-year-old girl while among those arrested in other cases include fathers, grandfathers and relatives of the under-age victims.

Chief Inspector Ali Shujau, head of the family and child protection unit, told press today that police investigations have revealed that school children aged 14 to 18 were being lured to guest houses by adults.

Police found that minors were sexually abused at guest houses after being lured through the internet, he said.

In the first three weeks of April, said Shujau, 27 sexual violence cases were reported to police, including 16 child sexual abuse cases and 11 sexual assault cases.

Meanwhile the Health Ministry in collaboration with local NGOs ‘Hope for Women’ and the ‘Manfaa’ centre has announced a protest march in Male’ tomorrow to urge the authorities to take action, reports Sun Online.

The march is to begin at 4pm near the Social Centre and wind down at the artificial beach.

In Addu City, the Family and Child Service Centre in Seenu Hithadhoo together with local NGOs has planned a vehicle round from 4.30pm to 6pm Friday after a 74-year-old woman was brutally raped on Sunday.

According to Haveeru, the victim’s injuries were serious enough that she had to undergo surgery at the Hithadhoo Regional Hospital. A 19-year-old suspect has since been taken into police custody.

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Doctors ‘disappeared’ as Bahrain cracks down after protests

Authorities in Bahrain have arrested 32 doctors including surgeons, physicians, paediatricians and obstetricians following its crackdown on Shia-led protests last month.

The UK’s Independent newspaper reported that one doctor was arrested while operating on a patient while another, an intensive care specialist, was detained after a photograph was published of her weeping over a dead protester.

Many of the doctors were ‘disappeared’, with their locations and condition unknown to their families. Four detainees have died in police custody following the riots in February.

One Bahrani doctor indicated to a colleague in the UK that the detentions were in retaliation for treating protesters injured in clashes with security forces.

“Interrogation committees question me about our role in treating the injured protesters, who are considered now criminal for protesting against the government. We said we were there to treat patients and have nothing to do with politics,” the doctor said.

News of the detentions led to a statement issued by the UK’s Royal College of Surgeons, stating that “these reports of harassment of medical staff in the ongoing unrest in Bahrain, including surgeons trained in the UK, are deeply disturbing. The protection and care of people wounded in conflict is a basic right guaranteed by the Geneva Convention and one that every doctor or medical institution should be free to fulfil.”

Bahrani Ambassador to the United States, Houda Nonoo, claimed earlier this month that the Salmaniya Medical Complex had been hijacked by “violent opposition forces” and used as a command centre.

In response to the protests Bahrain declared martial law in the tiny Gulf state and allowed 1000 Saudi Arabian troops from Saudi Arabia into the country to quell the Shia-led uprising. Six protesters were declared dead after troops overran the demonstrators camp.

Bahrain’s opposition Shia Wefaq party subsequently issued a statement condemning the arrival of Saudi troops as an assault on the country’s sovereignty.

“We consider the entry of Saudi Arabia or other Gulf forces into the Kingdom of Bahrain’s air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation,” the party said.

The King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has meanwhile reportedly moved US$42 billion of the country’s wealth into Swiss bank accounts.

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Man arrested for 11am mosque prayer call

A man has been arrested for using a Male’ mosque’s microphone to recite the call to prayer at 11am, rather than the mandated midday prayer time.

A witness told Haveeru that the man continued repeating the call to prayer as he was handcuffed and escorted away by police.

“He was looking upwards to the sky and yelling, ‘God is great’,” the witness told Haveeru.

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MNBC journalist suffers gash to hand in knife attack

A journalist with the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) has been released from hospital after suffering a two-inch gash on his hand in a knife attack early this morning.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that Mohamed Sodiq was attacked by two men on a motorcycle.

“We received a report that he was being treated and the attack was not serious, Shiyam said, adding that police were currently unable to say whether the attack was connected with Sodiq’s work, gang-related, or a random assault.

Minivan News understands that Sodiq works primarily as a sports reporter.

Head of the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA), Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir, said that Sodiq was attacked after leaving his office at 3:30am in the morning, while on his way home.

“We have met with the police commissioner and voiced our concern, not only about the safety of journalists but people in society as a whole,” Hiriga said, adding that a lack of security would affect the work of journalists.

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Indian government permits 32,094 ton wheat export to Maldives

The Indian government has announced the export of 32,094 tonnes of wheat flour to Maldives in 2011-2012, under the bilateral trade pact between the two countries.

India has banned the export of wheat and wheat products to most countries, but allows limited shipments for diplomatic reasons.

The Maldives imports nearly all its food, apart from local staples such as tuna.

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Foreign reserve US$250 million on Gayoom’s departure, Mundhu tells Asian Tribune

Spokesperson for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Mohamed Hussein ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, has been quoted in the Asian Tribune as saying that the Maldives had a foreign reserve of US$250 million when the former President left office.

“When the IMF recommended cutting down on public servants, President Nasheed went ahead with slashing the number of civil servants. At the same time Nasheed continued appointing endless political appointees and state ministers. If Nasheed thinks it will be all hunky dory in three months time just because he implemented a managed float of the rufiyaa, he is mistaken. He does not understand the dynamics of economics,” Mundhu told journalist Poorna Rodrigoo.

He blamed the dollar shortage on “businessmen holding large amounts of money abroad”, and noted that the economic uncertainty had led to “many Sri Lankan businessmen having second thoughts over investing here and Lanka appears a better investment than the Maldives for foreign investors.”

Ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ilyas Labeeb, on parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, meanwhile recently contested that figures from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) showed that US$104.6 million was transferred out of the Maldives in 2008, the year of the election, compared to US$30-40 million in 2005-2007.

“Most dollar transfers made overseas was done during the period between October-November 2008. It was between the time that [Gayoom] faced defeat in the presidential election and the time that President Nasheed took the oath of office,” Ilyas said at an MDP rally earlier this month, according to newspaper Haveeru.

Opposition split

Speaking on the internal split currently troubling the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Mundhu said that while leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali retained “legal authority”, Gayoom, the party’s ‘Honorary Leader’, still retained the party’s “moral authority” and majority support.

“Of the DRP’s 32 member council, Thasmeen has the support of 18 members and he controls party’s disciplinary arm too. So there is no doubt that as the leader he has the party’s legal authority. But it is former Leader Gayoom who commands the moral authority of the party and the majority support of nearly 46,000 party membership. If one happen to see the number of supporters attending Thasmeen’s rallies and Gayoom’s rallies, it is easy to assess who has the greater support,” Mundhu was reported as saying.

“Above all, Thasmeen is presently in a financial crisis personally and that has made matters worse for him. As of now we will stay in the party and will do our best to change the leadership.”

The Gayoom faction is pinning much hope on the 2012 congress to change the party charter and hold primaries to elect a new presidential candidate.

On whether Gayoom’s faction in the DRP would create a new party, Mundhu said: “We worked hard and formed the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party. It has taken lot of our time and energy. We gave our lives to the party. We are the real DRP. We do not want to let go of it. Why should we leave the DRP. Also it is a administratively a nightmare to form a new party in the Maldives given the fact that it involves lot of traveling to each and every island. It is a landlocked country and we do not have resources to do that.”

Read the full interview

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Transport authorities look to complete Israeli airline deal

Transport officials have confirmed that a subsidiary of Israel’s flagship airline El Al is in the process of starting services to the Maldives later this year, despite some fervent anti-Israel sentiment in the country and recent administrative difficulties between the flight operator and its parent company.

Transport Minister Adil Saleem told Minivan News that relevant authorities were currently processing a license for Sun d’Or International Airlines to begin operating to the Maldives after talks began last year. He claimed such a move would create opportunities for both Israeli tourists to visit the country as well as facilitate pilgrimages for Maldivians to mosques around Jerusalem and other parts of the country.

Sun D’Or International, which is wholly owned by Israeli transport group El Al, was reported to have ceased operations from April 1 this year after the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ruled that it relied on its parent company to administer and provide infrastructure to its operations – a situation it deemed “unsatisfactory”.

In a report for the Reuters news agency, despite reservations raised by the CAA on the manner the company was being run, the Israeli Transport Ministry claimed that the aircraft, maintained by El Al , were “completely safe” and any reservations about Sun D’Or International’s operations related solely to “administrative issues”. The report quoted ministry officials as saying that El Al could continue to use the Sun D’Or brand name commercially, but could not continue to operate the airline as an independent company.

A spokesperson for El Al was unavailable for comment when contacted by Minivan News at the time of press, but Adil Saleem claimed that to his knowledge, negotiations to begin services to the Maldives had not been affected so far by the Israeli CAA’s decision.

“I am not presently on top of the latest developments [with the company], but I believe we have almost completed the licence process for the services, which are expected to begin in October.

In recent months, the Maldives has seen a number of protests against Israel and its foreign policy along with claims by one former opposition party leader that the privatisation of Male’ International Airport would allow for Israeli bombers to go out of their way to refuel in the Maldives on their way to attack its neighbours in the Middle East. Saleem said he had taken such controversies on board.

“The [transport] department has gone through their procedures that it goes through with any airline planning to operate to the Maldives.  As Transport Minister I have looked at this like with any other airline,” he said. “Some Maldivians see Israel as controversial over the issue of Palestine. Yet Palestine accepts Israel as a state, benchmarking the point that I don’t see why we should not allow these flights.”

Saleem said that the Maldives already played host to a number of Israeli tourists at its resorts and that the airline would allow for a greater influx of guests to the country’s tourism industry.

The Transport Minister added that it had also become fashionable for some Muslims to travel to ancient mosques in Medina and Jerusalem, with the deal potentially allowing for local companies to provide pilgrimages to these sites.

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