The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has issued a statement in support of the government’s bid to obtain concession fees lost due to the legal debacle surrounding the levying of an airport development charge (ADC) by airport developer GMR.
A Civil Court case filed by the then opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) late last year ruled against the charging of an ADC, as stipulated in GMR’s contract with the government-owned Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL).
The court decision compelled the then-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to deduct the ADC charges from the concession fees due the government, which was pending appeal prior to the change of government under controversial circumstances on February 7.
However as a result of the DQP’s successful court case while it was in opposition, the government only received US$525,355 out of an expected US$8.7 million in concession fees for the first quarter of 2012.
The Transport Ministry has maintained that the former government’s decision to deduct the fee was illegitimate, initially claiming the authorisation letter was invalid as the new government had reappointed the MACL board, and insisted GMR pay the concession fees due. GMR has maintained that the ADC is chargeable under the terms of its concession agreement, and offered to exempt Maldivian nationals from paying the fee.
In its statement last week, the ACC claimed that according to article 9 of the Public Finance Act, the Finance Minister was not authorised to forgo revenue to the state without submitting the figures to the President under guidelines set by the Auditor General.
The ACC statement alleged that former MACL Chairman ‘Bandhu’ Ibrahim Saleem agreed to deduct the ADC and insurance surcharge without approval from the company’s board. As all three stakeholders had not signed the changes to the agreement, it could not be considered legally binding, the ACC claimed.
The ACC contended that the clauses in the concession agreement (18.2 and 18.3) that allow changes to the contract under certain political circumstances could not be activated as the Civil Court ruling was not a political decision, despite the case being filed by a political party.
That case was filed by DQP in a long-standing campaign against Nasheed’s government awarding the airport redevelopment to GMR. DQP leader Dr Hassan Saeed is now President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s special advisor, while DQP Vice-President Dr Mohamed Jameel is the new Home Minister.
A 24-page book released by the DQP while it was in opposition presents the government’s lease of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to developer GMR as a threat to local industry that will “enslave the nation and its economy”.
Former President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair at the time of the pamphlet’s publication said that he felt the title’s wording was “very strong”, and drew a faulty comparison between international cooperation for mutual benefit and foreign occupation of a people and market for selfish purposes.
“The purpose of all this is to make Maldivians mistakenly feel like they are under occupation and the country is being sold out,” claimed Zuhair at the time.
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This mess was stirred up Hassan Saeed and it has now back fired. Serves the him right.
These MDP yellow color guys will not see anything wrong with what ever the dictator Anni had done and for them GMR deal will be cleaned.
Anni had pocketed huge amount of money from GMR deal and there are others who had got some portion from the deal.
Anni is the worst dictator that we have found in life and he is much worse than Gayyoom whom we thought was the dictator of the century.
Why don't we let ACC run this country. They seem to have an opinion on everything. And their opinions is almost always loosely put "Vaki faraathakah naajaizu faidhaa eh hoadhadheyn"...this is business, someone always gets a profit, otherwise its called charity.
Because of ACC and the influence Yamin has upon it, this country has not moved forward.
May i recommend that ACC becomes integrated into all government contracts and bidding process, this way they can endorse the bids before they are awarded and not worry about the costly affair of stopping contracts once it materializes.
ACC - the bane of this nation!
Here is to you JJ Robins.
You have big opinions about issues in Maldives.
You use words like 'wade'.
You are a biased person. Biased against ACC.
@mode on Sun, 17th Jun 2012 10:15 AM
"Anni had pocketed huge amount of money from GMR deal and there are others who had got some portion from the deal."
Have you filed a case in the courts against Anni? If not, why not? No amount of shouting here will change the fact that Anni is innocent until proven guilty! Got that?
I see that you still haven't gotten past your very limited vocabulary of "dictator, money, GMR, Gayyoom". You really ought to read more.
ahmed, you are the most educated scholars in the word and you are and Anni the traitor are only the few people who knows things and who knows what is happening around us.
I suspect you been part of the GMR deal since every time you get heated when we start to talk about GMR deal.
ahmed, you are the most educated scholars in the world and you and Anni the traitor are only the few people who knows things and who knows what is happening around us.
I suspect you been part of the GMR deal since every time you get heated when we start to talk about GMR deal.