Tag: Ahmed Shiyam

Findings in Huraa drowning investigation revealed to families

The Education Ministry has shared the results of its investigation into the drowning accident in Kaafu atoll Huraa with families of the deceased. The accident left four students and a principal of Hiriya School dead earlier this month.

Details of the investigation have not been released to the public.

The Ministry did issue a statement recommending schools amend their budgets to accommodate a program which would establish safety measures, implement precautionary measures at campsites jointly with relevant authorities, and familiarise management officials and employees with these measures by the end of the year, Haveeru reports.

Police are continuing their investigation of the incident. Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said investigators are taking care to respect families and friends involved.

“The police are doing a very detailed investigation, and we are respecting the victims’ families, students, teachers and classmates. We have to give them time to recover, so we are not forcing them to participate more than they are willing to at this time,” said Shiyam.

Shiyam said evidence from the site of the incident and nearby Huraa island has been gathered and is being processed. He said the investigation will be done as soon as possible.

Minister Shifa Mohamed, School Board Chairperson, Deputy Education Minister Dr Abdulla Nazeer and Dr Abdul Muhsin Mohamed, who chaired the committee tasked to investigate the accident, also met with the families of the deceased, reports Haveeru. Education Minister Abdullah Nazeer assured the families that the recommended measures would be implemented.

The Education Ministry had not responded to inquiries at time of press.

Nashath Saeed of Meenaz/Gaaf Alif atoll Dhehvadhoo, Mariyam Naaz of Suvaasaage/Haa Alif atoll Hoarafushi, Aishath Shaaniha of Handhuvary Villa/Raa atoll Rasmaadhoo and Mariyam Shaiha of Maafannu Moisha and Principal Ali Nazim drowned during a Fisheries Science field trip to the campsite in Huraa.

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“No new significance” in Sri Lankan money laundering busts, say local police

Sri Lankan police are  investigating a large-scale money laundering case based in Colombo, that reportedly extends to the Maldives.

Local police representatives say no significant case has been filed with Maldivian authorities so far.

According to local media, money was being transferred from the Maldives to various illegal money transfer agents in neighboring Sri Lanka. The money is suspected to be used for such criminal activities as purchasing and distributing narcotics and other contraband.

Last week, Rs. 81.76 million (Rf11.4 million) was seized at Sri Lanka Customs, the largest amount of foreign currency to be detected at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). Haveeru reports that dollars from Australia, Canada and the US, as well as sterling pounds, Kuwaiti dinars, UAE Dirhams, Saudi Riyals, Swiss Francs and Euros were included in the stash.

Local police reported no case being lodged regarding the money laundering circuit in Colombo, and cautioned that the information that was given to local media regarding the transport of finances from the Maldives might not be reliable.

Officials did say that money laundering has been a problem in the Maldives. Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that “the issue of money laundering in the Maldives is growing, and credit cards are being abused more.”

An official from the Fraud and Financial Branch said there have been suspicions of money laundering, but charges can not be pressed for that alone. “Individuals have been charged for drug possession, which might be related to money laundering, but we are currently unable to prosecute someone for money laundering alone. We plan to work on that in the future,” he said.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports state that money laundering became a bigger concern internationally post-9/11, when it became heavily linked to terrorism. Although many countries have since adopted IMF anti-money laundering (AML) policies, few have developed legislation to enforce these guidelines.

The latest IMF review of Sri Lanka, dated 2008, indicated that AML standards were adopted by signature but that legislation was not in place. A 2011 review of the IMF program found that international organizations were cooperative, but did not indicate that individual governments and banks had adopted AML procedures.

Sri Lankan police have conducted raids on unauthorized money transfer agencies in the past few weeks, reports Haveeru. Earlier this month the Colombo Fraud Bureau, an arm of the Sri Lankan police force, arrested several suspects and seized approximately Rs. 9 million (Rf1.25 million) in foreign currency, Haveeru reports.

Four key Maldivian narcotics peddlers who were busted by Maldivian authorities in June for their involvement in the smuggling of narcotics via Colombo to Male since 2005 had allegedly used a prominent money transfer agency in Colombo, reports Haveeru.

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Police send case against DRP MP Ali Waheed to Prosecutor General

Police have sent several cases involving  Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Vice President and MP Ali Waheed to the Prosecutor General’s office.

Deputy Prosecutor General Ahmed Shameem confirmed the office had received several criminal cases concerning Waheed, and would decide in a week whether to take the cases to court.

“There is a process in the Constitution [that if a MP is found guilty of a criminal offence] it is punishable by 12 months in prison. He would be automatically removed from Parliament,” Shameem said.

Police Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said one of the cases concerned Waheed’s claims that police helped protesters during a disturbance outside the president’s residence and MNDF headquarters in January.

He said other cases against Waheed would also be sent to the PG as soon as the police finished their investigations.

Meanwhile Waheed said he was “very confident” that he had not done anything against the law.

”It’s all President Mohamed Nasheed’s doings,” Waheed claimed. ”He is afraid of me.”

He added that he hoped the cases would be sent to the courts as soon as possible.

”They take me to police custody like a medicine they take twice daily,” he said, ”so its difficult to identify which cases they have sent to PG. Ask President Nasheed – I have no idea.”

He maintained that the police decision to detain DRP leaders in during last Thursday’s protests was “politically motivated.”

”That night when they took me Dhoonidhoo I was not doing anything,” he said. ”I was trying to protect our people from being attacked by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)  activists and I was standing in front of DRP office as I am a leader of the party.”

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Police summon DRP MPs for questioning over parliamentary brawl

Police yesterday summoned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Vice president and MP Ali Waheed, DRP Vice president and MP Ahmed Ilham and DRP MP Ahmed Mahloof to police headquarters for questioning regarding last week’s brawl in parliament.

Waheed told the press that he assumed the police had summoned him in order to congratulate him on the no-confidence vote against Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem.

He said that the police questioned him about several cases, ”including a gathering near the president’s official residence, Muleeage, and about the brawl in parliament. They put the blame on us for everything happening in Male’,” Waheed said.

He claimed the questioning was a result of President Mohamed Nasheed “trying to stop us from making the government more responsible.”

”He thinks we will be afraid and back off,” he said, ”but that encourages us more.”

He said it was the DRP MPs who should have summoned the police, and questioned why they were taken into police custody on Thursday night.

”The government is planning to stop our activities and threaten us,” he said.

Ilham and Mahlouf told the press they chose to remain silent.

Press secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair said the government had no role in the police questioning or arrest of DRP MPs, and that anyone disturbing the peace of country could expect to be arrested.

”Police will arrest them if they see them indulging in violent activity,” Zuhair said. “They were throwing rocks and chairs at a peaceful religious gathering. It’s like throwing stones at a mosque – police can’t simply ignore the matter because the throwers are MPs.”

Zuhair said he wished to repeat a quote made by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom: ”No one is above the law”, and noted that the MPs were not arrested by ”temporarily kept in police custody.”

”The police will forward all the cases to the Prosecutor General when they have enough evidence,” he said.

”They are blaming president Nasheed just to gain political support, but the public won’t be fooled.”

Police Sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the police was not just summoning the DRP MPs.

”We are investigating a case presented to us by the parliament,” Shiyam said. ”There are many independent MPs and MDP MPs to be brought for questioning.”

He said the details could not be given as police were currently investigating the case.

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Bill on government preschools to appear before parliament

A bill governing pre-schools has been presented to parliament by Independent MP Ahmed Shiyam and was accepted by all 64 members present.

If the bill is approved the government would assume responsibility for funding the country’s preschools, which are now largely privately operated.

Deputy Minister for Education Shifa Mohamed said preschools were very important as they represented the first stage of education.

But she also noted that it was very difficult for the government to handle and develop preschools at a time when it was focusing on widening the availability of higher education.

”It would be very difficult for the government to handle the preschools as the country’s economic condition is also not very good, and I do not think the approved budget would be sufficient,” Shifa said.

She called on the MPs to include sufficient funding in the budget and increase it as necessary.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said the government supported the preschool bill, approved by the majority of MDP MPs as well.

”Every one dollar spent on preschool education represents seven dollars saved in secondary,” he explained.

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Businessman robbed of Rf435,000 in gang attack

A businessman has been attacked and robbed of Rf435,000 (US$33850) and US$7100 in the latest of a series of gang attacks in Male’.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the incident occurred last night around 12:00am on Janavary Magu near Sonee Hardware.

Shiyam said the man was carrying money belonging to a company when the gang approached and stabbed him.

The man is currently being treated at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) “and his condition is not very serious,” according to Shiyam.

An eye witness told Minivan News that the 41 year old victim was stabbed in the back and robbed of Rf435,000 and US$7100 during the incident. He said the man was taken to ADK Hospital around 12:30am.

Police did not know whether this case was related to other recent similar cases, Shiyam said, in which business owners carrying large amounts of money after closing their stores are attacked by gangs.

Last year on 28 December prominent businessman Ahmed Ibrahim Didi, known as ‘Campus’ Didi, was stabbed and robbed of almost US$300,000 in cash by unknown assailants. He was badly injured during the incident and was flown to India for emergency treatment.

Two days later, the manager of the Sunfront store, Mohamed Rashaad Adam, and an employee of the shop were attacked by a gang when they were on their way back to home with the day’s takings in cash with them in a small bag. The employee was badly injured but no money was stolen during the attack.

Vice President of the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce Institution (MNCCI) Ismail Asif said the organisation had held a meeting with police to make businessmen aware about these sort of incidents.

”We are trying to make Male’ a peaceful place for the businessman,” Asif said.

He said it was bad for businesses to face these kind of challenges “especially during a time of economic crisis like this.”

He such crimes could be prevented if people became more aware of the dangers of carrying large amounts of money.

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Marble girls and bottle rumours ‘lies’, says state minister

State Minister for Economic Development Mohamed Adil Saleem has claimed that stories circulating about him trying to drunkenly rape two girls in a Marble apartment were both untrue and damaging to the girls concerned.

Newspaper Haveeru published a story claiming a leaked police report contained details about someone taking drugs inside Marble, and that on arrival police discovered Adil drunk with two girls, aged 21 and 20.

Police inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed the police were called to Marble after they received a report that a girl was crying for help somewhere around Marble on Wednesday night, and discovered three empty bottles of alcohol in a dustbin on the sixth floor. Haveeru claimed that the leaked document said the bottles were found on the third floor, the same floor as Adil’s apartment.

Adil said he assisted police on the request of his brother, after they were called to Marble to investigate an incident.

”The police came and said they wanted to check Marble, and I opened all the apartments on each floor,” he said.

Adil said that the police asked to check his own apartment as well.

”I knew according to the law the police could not check my apartment without a court warrant, but since I have nothing to hide, I showed them my apartment,” he said.

He said both of the girls in his apartment were students, one of whom had been living with him for 11 years and the other the daughter of his father’s close friend.

”They both are like my family members,” Adil said.

“The police wanted to check their rooms. Rumours that they were wearing bikinis is a lie; one of them was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, the other was wearing her pyjamas,” he said.

Police checked the apartment thoroughly and left, he said, but returned four times.

“The third time police said they received information that somebody was using drugs in my apartment,” Adil said.

”I allowed them to check again, it was around 4:00am this time. They checked inside the washing machine, under the mattress, bedsheets, inside the sofa and inside shoes,” he said.

Adil claimed the police arrived again around 6:00am, but this time he denied them entry and asked them to wait outside while he called the police station.

“The police said that instead of a big crowd of police, they would be sending someone senior,” he said. That person came and looked around his apartment and left, Adil said.

He claims he did not know anything about the three empty bottles of alcohol until he was told about them by the building’s manager.

The stories about him drunk with two girls were untrue, he stressed.

”It is really sad that people spread these types of untrue rumors – what would the parents of the two girls think? How would they feel about this?” he asked.

President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said he supported Adil and did not believe the rumours were true, and were a “political attack linked to Thursday night’s protest [outside Muleeage].”

DRP spokesman Ibrahim Shareef said as the matter was a police case the party would not comment.

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