Tag: corruption

MDP MP calls for investigation into allocation of 50 Hulhumale’ flats to MNDF officers

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ibrahim Rasheed has requested the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) investigate the proposed allocation of 50 flats in Hulhumale’ to military officers.

MP Rasheed made the request in a letter forwarded to both commissions, according to an MDP statement.  The request, sent to the two commissions, claims that the allocation of 50 flats to officers in the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) is a “clear violation of the people’s rights.”  The allocation is to be taken from 1000 residential properties currently being constructed in Hulhumale’.

Rasheed claimed in his statement that the government has already decided to built flats in certain areas to provide housing for military officers, and therefore “taking away 50 flats belonging to the people” paves way for corruption.

If the government decides to give flats to MNDF today, he warned in future that more flats would have to be awarded to police and customs officers, as well as other independent institutions.

Meanwhile, the statement says that MP Rasheed had described the allocation of the flats as an example of the current government’s use of “undue power and influence” to attack people’s constitutional rights, asking the two commissions to investigate such actions.

He has there requested both commissions to block the allocation of the 50 flats to military officers and return the residences to the people.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim announced that 50 flats on the island of Hulhumale’ will be awarded to military officers alongside financial assistance to help them keep up with payments.

He said that a committee headed by Brigadier General Abdulla Shamal will oversee the awarding of the properties to candidates from a “pre-set criteria” and officers from all ranks are expected to be included in the scheme.  The MNDF has announced it will also provide assistance to officers facing difficulties in meeting the required payments on schedule.

ACC Deputy Chair Muaviz Rasheed today said that he could not confirm if the commission has received the case concerning the military flats, or if an official investigation had started as he was currently on leave.

Rasheed did note that another investigation into the development of a military training facility on Thanburudoo island as a surf resort was currently underway.  He said no decision has yet been taken on the case.

Prior to the announcement on awarding flats to military officers, the news broke about the development of a tourist surf resort on the island of Thanburudoo under the newly established MNDF Welfare Company.

The decision attracted heavy criticisms from the local surf community after the MNDF confirmed that the island was to be awarded to a third party, identified as Singapore-based group Telos Investment, without an open bidding process.

The Maldives Surfing Association (MSA) hit out at the proposed resort development on Thanburudoo – known to be a popular surfing spot – claiming it will substantially reduce local access to an already limited number of high-profile waves in the country.

However, Telos Investment President Dr Gunnar Lee-Miller told Minivan News at the time that it would be issuing a statement soon regarding the project and the potential impacts on national surf development.

“To be sure, there is a robust surf development plan for local surfers and fruitful discussions with Maldivian Surf Association Leaders have already commenced,” Dr Lee-Miller responded by SMS earlier this month. “We care greatly about the development of Maldivian surfers both in Male’ and the outer atolls.”

Minivan News had not yet received a full statement from Telos Investment about their plans.

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“Come clean” on Grant Thorton’s US$10 million penalty fee, MDP tells AG Shakoor

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has asked Attorney-General Azima Shakoor to “come clean” over a US$10 million invoice from accountancy group Grant Thorton, contending that the charge was a result of the present government prematurely terminating its investigation.

In a statement released today, the MDP contested claims made by Attorney General Shakoor to local news outlets that her office received two invoices totalling US$358,000 and £4.6 million from Grant Thorton. Shakoor claimed that the charges were for legal advice provided to the MDP government, for which it had not even received a report.

She made the comments at a press conference held on Sunday after documents were leaked revealing that President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government spent £75,000 (MVR 1.81 million) on advice from former UK Attorney General, Baroness Patricia Scotland, prompting opposition criticism against the spending.

She said similar legal advice had  been sought previously and specifically pointed out the Grant Thorton agreement.

The ousted former President Mohamed Nasheed tasked the UK-based accountancy group to uncover large amounts of state funds allegedly embezzled during Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30 year-old rule, several of which were flagged in the state’s audit reports.

Attacking the attorney general’s claims, the MDP claimed that the terms of engagement contracted with the UK forensic investigators was “not on a contingent fee basis” and instead, government had agreed to pay the fee as a percentage of the proceeds of the stolen assets that were recovered.

“This type of fee was used because a fee-paying engagement would have been too expensive,” the MDP contended.  “However, given that the firm was not charging any fees, the engagement letter that was signed between the GOM and GT included a penalty clause in the event the investigation was unreasonably stopped by the government.”

Under these circumstances, the party said, the penalty would include retroactive charges for the work done by the GT but also a fine for not proceeding towards a full recovery.

“Thus the invoice for the penalty fees was submitted to the government last month when the government decided to close the investigation rather than continue with the criminal and civil complaints that had been lodged in Singapore Courts,” the statement reads.

The MDP also contended the US$10 million penalty was a “small price” to pay in order to suspend the civil and criminal proceedings reportedly underway in Singapore over a suspected illegal oil trade worth US$800 million, which was allegedly undertaken by Abdulla Yameen – Gayoom’s half-brother – while he was the head of state-owned State Trading Organisation (STO). The scheme was alleged to involve the purchase of subsidised oil through the STO in Singapore, which was sold on through an entity called ‘Mocom Trading’ to the Burmese military junta, at a black market premium.

Yameen however has denied these allegations.

Nasheed’s Presidential Commission on corruption, which had been charged with investigating the STO case was disbanded – one of incoming President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s first acts in power.

Meanwhile, MDPs spokesperson for international affairs has also pointed out that Grant Thorton’s investigators have not submitted a full report because they might decide to litigate in UK courts to recover the US$10 million in penalty fees.

“I believe that GT has not submitted a full report on what it uncovered in stolen assets by the members of the dictatorship because they might want to litigate in UK courts to recover the penalty fees. Clearly, the work undertaken by GT revealed the illegal monies embezzled through the Mocom scam and the existence of secret offshore companies owned by members of the former dictatorship,” Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said in the statement.

“A criminal complaint was ready for filing in Singapore courts in February when the coup d’etat intervened,” he added, alleging that: “the old boys are back in power and the money swindling operations are ready to take off again.”

Following the controversial transfer of power on February 7, 2012 that saw the ousting of President Nasheed’s government, the case fell silent – despite the matter having been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s office a week earlier, according to MDP.

However, the Prosecutor General Office confirmed the office had not received the illegal oil trade case for prosecution from the former government and therefore no one had been charged.

Attorney General Shakoor was not responding to calls at time of press.

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Parole board pardons former MP Abdul Hameed

Former independent MP for Kaashidhoo, MP Abdul Hameed, has been granted clemency by the parole board, local media reports.

State Home Minister Mohamed Fayaz was reported as stating that MP Hameed had implemented one third of his sentence before he requested the parole board grant him clemency.

The Criminal Court last year sentenced Ismail Abdul Hameed to one year and six months banishment after he was found guilty of corruption.

The Prosecutor General pressed corruption charges against Hameed alleging that he had abused his authority as the former Director of Waste Management at the Male’ municipality to financially benefit a Singaporean company, named Island Logistics, in a deal to purchase a barge.

According to local media reports, Judge Abdulla Didi noted in the verdict at the time that the agreement stipulated that the barge was to be delivered within 90 days of signing the agreement, upon which 50 percent of the value was to be paid to Island Logistics.

Although the barge arrived in the Maldives on October 23, 2008, Hameed had however signed a document claiming that the barge was delivered on schedule on April 28, 2008.

The judge ruled that Hameed’s actions were intentional and in violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.

The case was appealed at the High Court and the Supreme Court, however the superior courts upheld the Criminal Court’s decision.

Until today the government had been telling the local media that Hameed was held under house arrest because an island for his banishment had not yet been determined.

The State Home Minister has said that his verdict was implemented by placing him under house arrest, as that was how banishment had been implemented lately because island councils had refused to accpet banished people.

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Judge Abdulla’s human rights violated, no physical abuse: HRCM

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has told local media that while Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed had “not been subject to any form of physical abuse“ during his controversial 22 day detention, attempts had been made to violate his fundamental human rights.

Haveeru today reported that HRCM President Mariyam Azra had said that its investigation had uncovered evidence that the judge, who was detained during the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed over allegations that he posed a threat to national security, had faced attempts to remove him from his post and send him abroad.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who had been in government during the time of Judge Abdulla’s detention, today raised concerns over what it claimed was the “complicit irresponsibility” of the HRCM – a body it alleged was biased towards the political interests of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Local media reports today claimed that HRCM President Azra had opted against giving the names of those involved in the alleged abuse of the judge’s human rights.  HRCM also declined to give any other details at present that could influence any potential trials after charges were filed against Nasheed and several senior figures in the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) this week.

Azra was not responding to calls when contacted by Minivan News at time of press.

The HRCM used today’s press briefing to publicise its concerns that “efforts” had been made to “coerce” the judge to commit unspecified actions that would have contravened his human rights.

“Serious concerns”

Responding to the press briefing, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – of which Nasheed is the current presidential candidate – said it held “serious concerns” in the selective nature of the HRCM’s investigations.

MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor today alleged that the HRCM’s investigation had now formed the basis of criminal charges filed against Nasheed.  The case was today returned to the Prosecutor General’s (PG’s) Office after the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court said it did not presently have jurisdiction to hear such a case.

In March, the Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizz told Minivan News that the completion of the Nasheed cases was being delayed whilst police reviewed certain aspects of the investigation.

Ghafoor claimed that the decision to move ahead with the charges this week raised questions about allegations of political influence on the HRCM and the information it made available to the PG’s Office.

“I believe there is a very strong link between the HRCM holding this media briefing today and Islamist factions linked to [former President] Gayoom,” he added. “This week this faction has been very active in lobbying the HRCM, the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and even the president himself.”

Just last month, Deputy leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer has expressed his confidence that the Prosecutor General’s (PG) investigation into charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed will see his imprisonment before the scheduled elections in July 2013.

“We will make sure that the Maldivian state does this. We will not let him go; the leader who unlawfully ordered the police and military to kidnap a judge and detain him for 22 days will be brought to justice,” local paper Haveeru reported Naseer as having said.

The PPM was formed by former President Gayoom, who also serves as head of the party.

HRCM investigation

Former President Nasheed became the first Maldivian president to be summoned before the HRCM in March this year in connection to his alleged role in the controversial detention of Judge Abdulla.

Nasheed had been requested to attend a HRCM hearing filed to try and understand who was responsible for taking the decision to arrest the judge. The former president attributed the initial arrest call to his Defence Ministry, on the grounds of “protecting” national security relating to alleged ethical concerns about the judge.

The summons of the former president was the first of three cases filed at the HRCM involving Nasheed. These cases all relate to potential human rights abuses allegedly carried out both by and against Nasheed during the lead up and aftermath of a controversial transfer of power that saw President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan installed as his successor.

Representatives of Nasheed’s legal counsel at the time claimed Nasheed has used his testimony to claim that he had been informed by the Home Ministry that the judge had allegedly posed a “national threat” – prompting his eventual detention.

The MDP MP added that Nasheed then claimed that the Home Ministry had communicated with the Defence Ministry on the situation, which in turn led to the decision to arrest the judge after bodies like the Judicial Service Commission has raised alleged concerns over his ethical conduct.

“I was told Abdulla Mohamed would not comply with the police’s summons to investigate allegations [against him],” Nasheed later stated at a press conference following the meeting with the HRCM.

“The Home Minister wrote to the Defense Minister that Abdulla Mohamed’s presence in the courts was a threat to national security. And to take necessary steps. And that step, the isolation of Abdulla Mohamed, was what the [Defense] Ministry deemed necessary.”

Nasheed claimed additionally that he had sent representatives to Girifushi to check on Judge Abdulla Mohamed’s well-being during his detention, alongside allowing the HRCM to visit the judge.

The MDP has also alleged that the decision to arrest the judge was related to a number of possible misdemeanour’s that had been attributed to him dating back several years.

In November, the national court watchdog, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), was ordered to cease an investigation into Judge Abdulla Mohamed by the Civil Court under an action the judge himself instigated.

MDP spokesperson and MP  Imthiyaz Fahmy contended following Nasheed’s first HRCM summons on March 21 that it was ironic that a leader he claimed who had openly discouraged the use of torture and actively campaigned against human rights abuses, had become the country’s first former leader to have been called in front of the HRCM.

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PG to appeal corruption charges levied against Deputy Speaker Nazim

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office has appealed cases concerning the alleged involvement of Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim in defrauding the Atolls Development Ministry, in the purchase of 220 harbor lights worth Rf1.95 million (US$126,000) in 2004 to the High Court.

PG also stated that it would appeal the remaining three cases of corruption charges levied against the deputy speaker.

The case appealed by the state in the High Court concerns the Nazim’s use of equipment and employees of Namira Engineering while he was the company’s Managing Director to submit bids in the name of two companies called Tech Media Service Pvt Ltd and Standard Electric Works Pvt Ltd, to provide 220 harbor lights to the Atolls Ministry without the company’s prior knowledge in 2004.

The prosecutors requested the Criminal Court recover the money paid to Nazim for the supply of the goods, on the grounds he defrauded the ministry.

However, during the trial Nazim had submitted six witnesses to prove the companies were aware of the submission of bid and presented Saleem as a witness to establish that the ministry received the 220 harbor lights.

The prosecution meanwhile presented as evidence the police investigation report, cheques issued by the state and bogus letterheads found during a police raid on Namira Engineering in May 2009.

Further, the prosecutors presented employees of Namira as key witnesses to prove they were acting on Nazim’s orders.

However, Judge Saeed Ibrahim dismissed the testimonies of the prosecutor’s witnesses on the grounds that they were the employees who had prepared the fraudulent bid estimates which were submitted.

Even though the witnesses had told the court that they had prepared the bid estimates on Nazim’s order, the judge concluded that it does not mean Nazim had ordered them to prepare the bids fraudulently.

Judge Ibrahim also argued that the act of asking was not enough to prove criminal intent.

Therefore, in reference to article 51 of the constitution which guarantees the rights of the accused, the judge concluded that the charges cannot be filed against Nazim

An official from the PG confirmed to Minivan News about the decision to appeal, but refused to provide any further details.

Multiple counts

Deputy Speaker Nazim, who is also the Deputy Leader of government aligned party People’s Alliance (PA), along with MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem (then-finance director at the ministry) and Abdulla Hameed, former Atolls Minister and half brother of Gayoom, was charged in late 2009 on multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the Atolls Ministry.

The scam – first flagged in an audit report released in early 2009 – involved paper companies allegedly set up by the defendants to win bids for projects worth several hundred thousand dollars, including the fraudulent purchase of harbor lights, national flags and mosque sound systems.

According to the report, the documents of Malegam Tailors, the company which won the bid, show that it shared the same phone number as Namira. Fast Tailors, another company that applied, also shared a different phone number registered under Namira.

The other company Needlework Tailors that submitted the bid had an employee of Namira sign the documents as the General Manager while the fourth company named “Seaview Maldives Private Maldives” did not have any record of its existence, according to the report.

However, the auditors noted that Searview bid documents had an exact date error found on Fast tailors documents, which according to the auditors prove same people had prepared both company’s bids.

The prosecution began in late 2009, after police uncovered evidence that implicated Hameed, Saleem and Nazim in a number of fraudulent transactions.

At a press conference in August 2009, police exhibited numerous quotations, agreements, tender documents, receipts, bank statements and forged cheques showing that Nazim received over US$400,000 in the scam.

A hard disk seized during a raid of Nazim’s office in May 2009 allegedly contained copies of forged documents and bogus letterheads.

Police maintained that money was channeled through the scam to Nazim who laundered cash through Namira Engineering and unregistered companies.

“Politically cleansed”

On February 23, 16 days after the controversial transfer of power on February 7, the Criminal Court dismissed three remaining counts of fraud against Nazim, stating that his “acts were not enough to criminalise him”.

All four cases against Nazim concerned public procurement tenders of the former Atolls Ministry secured through fraudulent documents and paper companies.

Criminal Court Judge Saeed Ibrahim on at the time ruled that two counts of fraud against Nazim – for setting up several paper companies to win a bid worth US$110,000, provide 15,000 national flags for the atolls ministry in 2003, and a similar tender worth US$92,412 to provide 15,000 national flags in 2005, could not be prosecuted.

The third count – conspiracy to defraud the ministry in 2003 in a similar manner to win a public tender for procuring US$115,758 worth of mosque sound systems – was also dismissed.

In an interview to the local media outlet Sun following the rulings, Nazim claimed the four cases were baseless and had been leveled at him by former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, using false evidence.

He welcomed the ruling as a testimony to the existence of an independent judiciary: ”Today we are guaranteed of the existence of an independent and trustworthy judiciary. Former President Nasheed and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will now believe we have an independent judiciary, because they know that the four cases were schemed with manufactured evidence. These are are absolutely untrue and baseless cases.”

Following the dropping of the charges post-February 7, the MDP claimed that the courts rewarded Nazim by “politically cleansing” him from all the corruption charges, following the toppling the party’s government after it had attempted to reform the corrupt judiciary.

Minivan News tried contacting Nazim but he did not respond at the time of press.

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Transparency Maldives to open advocacy centre for local and foreign victims of corruption

Transparency Maldives is pursuing collaborations with various government and independent institutions in attempts to legally assist both local and foreign victims of corruption in the country.

Transparency Maldives Project Director Aiman Rasheed said a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed this week with the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to provide technical advice through the establishment of an Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) was also being sought with a number of other local institutions and bodies.

According to the NGO, the centre will seek to offer assistance and legal advice for both local people and expatriates – especially in the case of workers from countries like Bangladesh – to help them address incidences of corrupt practices in the country.

With consultations taking place with various national bodies and organisations like the Police Integrity Commission (PIC), the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office, Transparency Maldives claims it expects to announce additional partners for the project over the next month.

Rasheed told Minivan News that by June 10 he hoped to have additional support from a number of these bodies alongside the commitments of the ACC.

“We have so far received very positive responses from the PG’s Office and the HRCM,” he claimed. “In all honesty, we’ve been quite surprised at how open many of the institutions have been. We hope to have more big stakeholders on board.”

Under the terms of the MOU signed this week with the ACC, Rasheed claimed Transparency Maldives aimed to provide technical advice to the commission to try and help it make its systems for dealing with corruption “better”.

“The ALAC is designed to try and make things easier for victims of corruption. There is no protection right now for most people and it can be hard to get access to existing protective mechanisms,” he said. “We will provide complainants with proper legal advice on where they stand. Also, we currently have very little data in regards to current complaints. The MOU will let us better understand what gaps there are in the system and what exactly people are complaining about.”

International scope

Rasheed claimed that the ALAC project, which has been adopted by other national bodies aligned with Transparency International, had so far provided legal and technical assistance to some 48,000 corruption cases worldwide.

He added negotiations were presently taking place with customs and judicial authorities in an attempt to come to an agreement for similar collaborations.

However, Rasheed stressed that each institution had its own distinct set of rules and regulations in relation to its work.

“Our plan is that we would like to have a toll free number that would allow a person who has been a victim of corruption to call or message us anonymously with a complaint,” he said.

When questioned on what sort of remit and powers the ALAC would have to address allegations of corruption concerning public and independent institutions, Rasheed claimed that Transparency had already been addressing certain “concerns” levelled at the project.

He said that some of these concerns were related to fears that the work of the ALAC would simply just be duplicating existing state-mechanisms currently in place. Rasheed denied this was the case.

“Our intentions are to give people an easier way to complain and get legal advice over corruption concerns,” he said. “However, this does not mean that we will be interfering with the international mechanisms of these groups.”

Rasheed claimed that the MOU would instead be designed to go directly to a body such as the Maldives Customs Service and share the numbers of potential complaints raised against it, whilst also providing advice on how to address such concerns.

In working to address more specific local concerns, Rasheed claimed that Transparency Maldives aimed to make use of the ALAC programme to address issues related to labour authorities and human trafficking – one of the NGOs “biggest concerns” at present.

“Right now we found the whole system just so corrupt. So we have an agreement to bring a member of staff from Transparency Bangladesh here over the next year to help us deal with complaints from Bangladeshi workers,” he said.

Expatriate concerns

Earlier this month, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in the Maldives, Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal, said he believed workers from the country were regularly being brought to the Maldives to perform unskilled work, usually in the construction industry.

Awal alleged that upon arriving, expatriates from Bangladesh were suffering from the practices of “bad employers”.

“This is a real problem that is happening here, there have been many raids over the last year on unskilled [expatriate] workers who are suffering because of the companies employing them. They are not being given proper salaries and are paying the price for some of these employers,” he said.

The comments were echoed earlier this week by the First Secretary of the Indian High Commission in the Maldives S. C. Agarwal.

Agarwal told Minivan News that both skilled and unskilled Indian workers employed currently in the Maldives continued to be “penalised” due to certain government and private sector employers failing to fulfil their legal obligations.

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ACC says prominent government figures accused of corruption

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has revealed that the government has appointed three individuals to prominent positions within its ranks despite being aware of corruption allegations made against them, reports Haveeru.

The names of the individuals were not revealed.

The ACC official who spoke with the paper said that the issue of taking greater care when considering government appointees had been discussed with the Attorney General (AG).

The official added, however, that they had received no word from the government regarding its response to this issue.

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High Court denies ACC injunction as commission appeals Civil Court ruling on Nexbis

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has appealed a ruling from the Civil Court blocking its order to halt the implementation of a border control system agreement between the Immigration department and Malaysian firm Nexbis.

The commission also called for an injunction on the installation of the system until the High Court case was resolved, however Judge Azmirelda Zahir said such a decision could only be taken after both sides had presented their cases. The ACC requested an injunction on the grounds that it would lose the possibility of appeal should the project be implemented before the conclusion of the High Court case.

The ACC in December forwarded corruption cases against former – and now reappointed – Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of the Finance Ministry, Saamee Ageel, to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), alleging that the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in giving the US$39 million to Nexbis.

The ACC had earlier ordered a halt to the project following the signing of the contract in October 2010, announcing that it had received “a serious complaint” regarding “technical details” of the bid, and that the agreement presented “instances and opportunities” for corruption.

The 20-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement with the Malaysian-based mobile security solutions provider was to upgrade border security in the Maldives with new technology including facial recognition and fingerprint identification, facilitating the identification and tracking of expatriate workers and eliminating the opportunity to people to enter the country with forged paper documents.

The agreement allows Nexbis to levy a fee of Rf30 (US$2) from arriving and departing passengers in exchange for installing, maintaining and upgrading its immigration system. The company would also charge a Rf231 (US$15) for every work permit card.

Immigration Controller under the later months of President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, Abdulla Shahid, contended that the agreement meant that Nexbis would draw US$200 million in revenue from the project over the life of the 20 year contract, while five percent royalties to the government would equate to US$10 million.

Speaking to Minivan News following the ACC’s initial injunction, Shahid claimed that the deal would deprive the government of significant revenues, when “border control is not something we are unable to comprehend – it is a normal thing all over the world.”

Shahid estimated that a free system given by a donor country would cost at most several hundred thousand dollars a year, and said he was unsure as to why such an agreement had ever been signed.

However, Nexbis said in a subsequent statement that its agreement meant that neither the government nor the Maldivian public would pay upfront for “state-of-the-art border security protection”, and suggested that “reasonable persons will likely realise that once the hidden costs after are taken into account and adjusted for inflation, the benefits and efficiencies of the Nexbis system will far outweigh the risk, inadequacies and uncertainties of any such alleged cheaper system.”

The Civil Court in January 2012 ruled that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) did not have the legal authority to order Immigration Department to terminate the agreement, with Judge Ali Rasheed ruling that while the ACC Act gave the commission the authority to investigate corruption cases, it was not able to annul contracts.

Judge Rasheed asserted that it was “unfair” to the contractors if ACC could annul an agreement without their input, as this violated their protections under Maldives Contract Law.

During the High Court hearing this week, the ACC charged that the State Attorney during the Civil Court case, Deputy Solicitor General Ahmed Usham, had a conflict of interest as he had been a member of the tender board responsible for awarding the project to Nexbis. Usham disputed the charge.

The case continues.

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Former DRP registrar and Customs head charged with corruption

Former Principle Collector of Customs Ibrahim Shafiu was produced before the Criminal Court today on charges of corruption.

Shafiu, who was also the ex-registrar of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP),  was accused of changing the details of two speedboats imported to the Maldives in 2007 by ‘Sultans of the Seas’, a company owned by DRP Leader and MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali’s family, and decreasing the customs duty payable for the two vessels.

According to a local newspaper present at the hearing, Shafiu’s lawyer denied the charges and requested the judge give him time to respond to the charges. The  judge adjourned the case for seven days.

Newspaper Haveeru reported that Shafiu had been living abroad after the fall of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s government in 2008, and arrested at the airport when he arrived back in the Maldives last month.

The Criminal Court’s media coordinator had not responded to Minivan News at time of press.

The Prosecutor General has also pressed further charges against Shaifu, alleging that he reduced the customs duty of a crane brought to the Maldives in 2008 by a company called Centre Enterprises.

The DRP was formed by Gayoom following the introduction of multi-party democracy, and was the largest opposition party until the ousting of the MDP government on February 7.  It is now the largest party affiliated with the new governing coalition.

Recently, Independent MP Abdul Hameed was sentenced to one year and six months banishment after the Criminal Court found him guilty of corruption, a sentence disqualifying him from parliament.

The court ruled that he had abused his authority as the former Director of Waste Management at the Male’ municipality to financially benefit a Singaporean company named Island Logistics, in a deal to purchase a barge.

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