Category: News in Brief

The Maldives’ foreign relations and the CNI

“It was just a week ago that Maldivian President Dr Mohamed Waheed was in Colombo, meeting diplomats, businesspeople and the media on a mission to strengthen the existing friendly relations between Sri Lanka and the Maldives,” writes Lasanda Kurukulasuriya for Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times.

“The visit came just days ahead of the release of a report by a commission appointed to investigate the controversial circumstances in which he, as deputy to former president Mohamed Nasheed, assumed office as President of the Maldives in February.”

“The travel destinations of the Maldivian political leaders (past and present) point to their keen awareness of the geostrategic imperatives in the region. For the small Indian Ocean archipelago these considerations dictate that the support and goodwill of its close South Asian neighbours need to be maintained, whilst simultaneously fostering good relations with China.”

“President Waheed when he visited in May sought to reassure Delhi that ‘China will not replace India.’ But the Maldives, just like others, wants to develop trade links with the economic powerhouse.”

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HDFC to provide housing loans to police officers

The Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) has decided to introduce a loan scheme for allowing Maldives Police Service (MPS) officers to build their own homes, according to local media reports.

Haveeru today reported that the Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz had used his official twitter stream to announce that the scheme would allow all police officers to get a home loan.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef has said that the loan will be released to officers to build houses which are registered in their own names. He went on to say that the Police Commissioner was undertaking a lot of efforts for the development of the police force.

HDFC states that it has been providing housing loans to all government employees, but that the scheme has only recently been introduced to the police. Haveeru quoted a HDFC official as saying that they have previously received numerous requests from police officers for the loan, and that it has now been facilitated since the corporation has come to an agreement with the MPS.

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Maldives seal dramatic late win against Syria

The Maldives national football team reignited their hopes of making it to the final of the 2012 Nehru Cup with a dramatic win over Syria yesterday evening.

After taking the lead via captain Ali Ashfag just before the 60 minute mark, victory appeared to have been squandered when Syria’s Alaa Alshbbli equalised with a stunning overhead kick in the 81st minute.

However, the Maldives grabbed a late winner three minutes into added time as Ahmed Rashid turned in an Ashfag cross to seal a 2-1 victory.

The win sees the Maldives retain second place in the table, level on points with India who play this evening.  At present, the squad are 2 points ahead of Cameroon, whom the Maldives face tomorrow evening in their final group game.

The top two teams will play in the tournament final on September 2.

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Environment Ministry signs MVR1 million waste management deal

The Ministry of Environment and Energy has today signed a MVR1 million deal to purchase waste management equipment, local media has reported.

The deal, made with Male’-based company Biz4Maldives, forms part of a collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to oversee environmental management projects in the country, according to the Sun Online news service.

The lifespan of the agreement will reportedly be two months from the date of the signing.

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President presents top prize during Baibalaa final

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan yesterday attended the 2012 Baibalaa Tournament finals in Male’ to present the competition’s main prize.

Last night’s final saw B.G. Sports beat T.C. Sports to lift the President’s Trophy, which was presented by Dr Waheed.  Participants were also presented with the “champion cup” and prize money provided by the Baibalaa Association, according to the President’s Office website.

Individual accolades were presented to Abdulla Nishan of Lorenzo Sports and Ali Naeem of T. C. Sports, who took home the Mr Baibalaa award and Fair Play award respectively.

The President’s Office added that runner-up team, T.C. Sports, were presented with their prize by current Minister of Human Resources, Youth and Sports Mohamed Hussain Shareef.

According to local media reports, two people were arrested during the event for allegedly verbally abusing the president.

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Deputy Police Commissioner denies HRCM’s “emotionally charged” claims

Deputy Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed has denied the claims of the Human Rights Commission (HRMC) that officers were “emotionally charged” on February 8.

The commission’s report described interviews with “senior officers” which suggested that “a large number of civilians were injured by police officers…because individual police officers were too emotionally charged at the time.”

Waheed reportedly told Sun Online that he didn’t believe the police had “ever acted out in emotion”.

“We will never be emotional; it is not a word in our vocabulary,” he said.

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Centre Enterprises ordered to pay MVR8.3million to customs

The Civil Court has ruled that Centre Enterprises pay a fine of MVR8.3million (US$538,000) to the Maldives Customs Services for fraudulent activities when importing a crane to the country in 2009, Sun Online has reported.

The fine was levied after forged documents altered the price of the crane when being imported.

The court found that the company had failed to pay the fine, despite being reminded on three separate occasions.

Former principal collector of customs and former Chief Spokesperson of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Ibrahim Shafiu, was arrested in relation to these charges upon his return to the country in April

It ruled that the payment should now be made within one month.

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47-year old woman found dead in Fuvuhmulah

A 47-year old woman, identified as Hawwa Shareefa, has been found dead in Funaadu ward of Fuvahmulah, local media has reported.

The incident was brought to the local council’s attention at around 11:30AM today after her body had been found by children swimming in the area.

Media reported that she had been seen alive by islanders between one to one and a half hours before her body was discovered.

Assistant manager of Fuvahmulah Hospital told Sun Online that Shareefa had not been in the water long before being discovered.  It was also reported that Shareefa suffered from some form of mental health issue.

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Two men arrested in capital whilst carrying 11 bottles of alcohol

Police have arrested two men allegedly found to be transporting 11 bottles of alcohol in Male’ on Saturday (August 25).

According to police, officers near Henveiru Stadium noticed the suspects as they were riding a bike through the capital with the headlight switched off.  The officers followed them to the Galolhu Sinamale’ area and later stopped them.

The bottles were discovered inside a bag they were carrying, Police added, claiming investigations were continuing.

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