A Turkish national arrested earlier this month for being in possession of gun parts has been released after police decided that the parts could not have formed a working weapon.
Local media also reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office had decided the individual could not be prosecuted. Haveeru believes the man was released upon expiry of his detention period last Sunday (July 13th).
The arrest was made at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport after parts of a gun were found in his luggage.
According to local media, the man was a crew member of a Turkish oil tanker and was among nine crew members attempting to leave via INIA.
The government of Maldives is in talks with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and China Exim Bank to secure a US$600 million for airport development.
Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb said the government is seeking US$200 million from JBIC and US$400 million from China’s Exim Bank to develop a terminal and runway respectively.
Sinagpore’s Changi Airport Group will be hired as consultants as they are better qualified to work with Chinese and Japanese contractors, he added.
The government is in the process of finalising an agreement with Changi, he said.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Adeeb said he does not expect a Singaporean tribunal’s ruling ordering the government to pay damages to former airport developer GMR Infrastructure for wrongful termination to affect the government’s new plans.
In abruptly terminating the contract, the government had chosen to protect the country’s multibillion-dollar tourism sector, Adeeb said. He claimed major airlines had threatened to cease operations in the Maldives following the GMR takeover – a move that may have led to collapse of tourism.
Compensation
Adeeb has dismissed opposition fears of an imminent sovereign debt crisis if forced to pay GMR’s initial claim of US$ 1.4 billion, repeatedly stating the government has the capacity to pay compensation.
“God willing, our airport will be developed. Our economy will grow with the special economic zone bill, and our government will become rich, we will overcome our budget deficit and god willing we will be able to pay any amount we have to,” he said.
Adeeb also said the arbitration tribunal had ruled out the US$1.4 billion claim as a large percentage of the claim is business opportunity losses.
The exact amount of compensation is to be set in a second phase of arbitration and will factor in concession fees and the amount GMR invested in INIA.
President Abdulla Yameen has previously predicted compensation to be approximately US$300 million, while former Attorney General Azima Shakoor in 2012 said the figure may be as high as US$700 million.
The World Bank in December said GMR’s compensation will place severe pressure on the country’s already “critically low” reserves.
As of April 2014, the Maldives’ gross foreign reserve stood at US$434.8 million, while total outstanding debt at the end of 2013 stood at US$793.6 million dollars.
GMR or tourism?
The concession agreement was “lopsided,” “biased” and negatively affected airline operations in the Maldives, Adeeb said.
“[I]t was either tourism or GMR contract. Only one of them would survive in the Maldives. Airlines were complaining, some airlines were moving out – as you know, for big airlines like Qatar, it is no big deal for them to stop operations here. For them, this is a very small market. If airlines stop operations, a country’s tourism will go bankrupt. We have seen the decline to tourism in Seychelles and Mauritius. We had to take action,” he said.
“IATA research shows seat capacity from Europe decreased from 2010 – 2012, and it was not affordable for charter airlines to fly to the Maldives. They were increasing fuel prices, by week, by month, for big scheduled airlines, without considering world prices, because they had a monopoly. Due to the agreement, there was nothing the government could do,” he added.
However, a 2013 Auditor General report presented a “mixed picture”, stating only Sri Lankan airlines definitively ceased refueling due to increased price of fuel.
Adeeb said he believed airport infrastructure are tourism investments, and pledged to integrate tourism and regional airport development.
“We want responsible investors, not just investors,” he said, adding that the government will sue former government officials who have caused losses to the government through lopsided business contracts.
Assistance in changing the government is the biggest relief the Indian government could offer the Maldives regarding compensation owed to GMR for the premature termination of its airport deal, former President Mohamed Nasheed has said.
Speaking at a rally at the reopened Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) haruge (meeting hall) last night, the main opposition party’s acting president said he had learned that GMR would inform the Indian government of the situation.
“In my view, that relief is for that [Indian] government to work together with us, the Maldivian people, to change the government of the Maldives,” Nasheed said.
Former Attorney General Azima Shukoor – incumbent at the time of the termination – has this week maintained that the agreement was invalid under Maldivian law.
Nasheed yesterday contended that parties in the ruling coalition had fanned anti-Indian sentiment and incited anger among the public towards the country in their efforts to topple the MDP government, which he claimed were orchestrated by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
He also referred to anti-Indian rhetoric by senior officials of the current administration in the weeks leading up to the eviction of GMR in December 2012.
Former President Gayoom exploited nationalism and Islam – which are “accorded the highest place in the hearts of the Maldivian people” – to mislead the public with “lies”, Nasheed argued.
The Singapore tribunal concluded that the Maldivian government and the Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL) were “jointly and severally liable in damages to GMIAL for loss caused by wrongful repudiation of the agreement as per the concession agreement.”
In the wake of the arbitration decision, Attorney General Mohamed Anil said that current administration would honour the verdict and expressed confidence that the government would not have to pay the US$1.4 billion sought by GMR.
“According to the agreement, [we] mostly have to compensate for the investments made. We said we do not have to pay the amount GMR has claimed,” Anil told reporters on Thursday (June 19).
President Yameen had predicted in April that GMR would only be owed US$300 million in compensation.
Nasheed, however, predicted last night that the compensation figure would not be “lower than US$800 million”, a fee which would plunge the Maldives into a sovereign debt crisis as the foreign currency reserves are currently below US$100 million.
Warning of an impending economic crisis, Nasheed called on the public to awake from its “slumber” and “consider what is happening to our country”.
Nasheed also accused former Attorney General Azima Shukoor – who had advised cancellation of the contract on the grounds that it was void ab initio (invalid from the outset) – of attempting to mislead the public concerning the arbitration ruling.
Shukoor has told newspaper Haveeru that the contract was illegal under Maldivian law.
“Even if the agreement is legit under Common Law, it does not necessarily concur that the agreement had also been made according to Maldivian laws.
“Nobody sitting as AG in Maldives can still pronounce the deal to have been done as per the Public Finance Act. No one can. That’s why I spoke against it even then,” she was quoted as saying.
She further argued that the termination of the agreement was justified as the domestic economy would have suffered “unimaginable losses”.
Nasheed however questioned the “literacy” of ministers in the “coup government,” noting that a legal process for terminating the contract through arbitration was laid down in the concession agreement.
As public debt was over 60 percent of GDP when the MDP government took office in November 2008, Nasheed said his administration believed loans should only be obtained for capital investments and infrastructure projects.
The government decided to privatise the airport in a public-private partnership as loans could be put to better use to “upgrade hospitals, improve schools and build water and sewerage systems,” he explained.
Referring to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) ruling out corruption in the airport privatisation deal, Nasheed noted that the commission had concluded that the government would have received US$534 million from the consortium during the 25-year lease period.
Conversely, MACL would have made a profit of about US$254 million in the same period if the airport was operated by the government-owned company.
While MACL paid on average MVR96 million (US$6.2 million) a year to the government from 2005 to 2010, Nasheed noted that GMR paid MVR872 million (US$56.5 million) in 2011 as concession fees.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is preparing to sue former President Dr Mohamed Waheed for defamation and damages over his administration’s unilateral termination of the GMR airport development deal.
The main opposition party announced in a press statement on Thursday (June 19), following a Singapore arbitration tribunal ruling that the agreement was “valid and binding”, that it would pursue legal action against the former president and other responsible parties in both Maldivian and international courts.
“Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and his coup partners had spread falsehoods concerning the GMR agreement, incited hostility and antagonism towards the MDP among the public, and attempted to defame this party,” the press statement read.
“And [they] plunged the nation into serious strife and discord, paved for the way for a coup, and toppled the first democratically elected government of the Maldives in a coup d’etat.”
The party contended that Dr Waheed’s administration was responsible for the compensation the Maldivian government would likely have to pay GMR – which would be “a financial burden the country cannot bear” – as well as loss of investor confidence, soured bilateral relations, and the damage to the Maldives’ international reputation.
The concession agreement signed with the GMR-led consortium in July 2010 to Ibrahim Nasir International Airport was beneficial to the Maldives, the statement continued, and its abrupt termination was unlawful.
In a letter sent to the Bombay Stock Exchange last week, GMR explained that the arbitration tribunal concluded the Maldivian government and the Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL) were “jointly and severally liable in damages to GMIAL for loss caused by wrongful repudiation of the agreement as per the concession agreement.”
The determination of liability – the first of two phases of arbitration – will now be followed by the determining of compensation owed.
In the wake of the arbitration decision, Attorney General Mohamed Anil said that President Abdulla Yameen’s administration would honour the verdict while expressing confidence that the government would not have to pay the US$1.4 billion sought by GMR.
“According to the agreement, [we] mostly have to compensate for the investments made. We said we do not have to pay the amount GMR has claimed. We always said we will have to pay compensation, and that this compensation has to come through the agreement,” Anil told reporters on Thursday.
President Yameen had predicted in April that GMR would only be owed US$300 million in compensation.
False pretext
Meanwhile, addressing supporters in Malé at an MDP maahefun (traditional celebratory feast ahead of Ramadan) Thursday night, former President Mohamed Nasheed argued that opposition parties misled the public to topple the MDP government in February 2012 with false allegations.
Opposition parties at the time had claimed that privatising the international airport posed a threat to Maldivian independence and sovereignty as well as Islam, Nasheed recalled.
The concession agreement with the GMR-led consortium was characterised as detrimental to the Maldives, he added, which was used as the pretext for the “coup” on February 7.
“Today it is becoming clear to us that the agreement was valid, and that it was terminated in violation of legal principles as well as international norms, in a way that causes serious damage to the Maldivian people,” Nasheed suggested.
Referring to AG Anil’s insistence that the compensation figure would not be too high, Nasheed accused President Yameen’s administration of continuing to mislead the public.
Nasheed stressed that the amount owed to GMR as compensation was not yet clear, noting however that the arbitration tribunal has ordered the government to pay US$4 million to the company to cover its legal expenses.
“The question we are asking now is, who will be paying those dollars? The dollars will be paid from our pockets. Legal action must be taken against those responsible for us having to pay these dollars,” he insisted.
“We have to seek compensation for the damage caused to our government. We know, we can see, that President Yameen’s government will not last. We know that President Yameen’s government does not have the support of the people. They cannot rule over all of the people in this country with the support of just 25 percent of the public.”
Changing the current government was “a duty and an obligation” for the MDP, the former president said, advising supporters not to despair.
“God willing, our courage will not flag. We will not be afraid and we will not back down either,” he said.
The Maldives Association of Travel and Tourism Operators (MATATO) has expressed concern regarding rumours that a private Jet terminal and aeronautical services facilities at Malé International Airport will be outsourced exclusively to a foreign company.
“MATATO is very concerned that this will create an unhealthy market structure and put many local companies at risk,” read the statement.
Minivan News has learned that the cabinet’s economic council is currently discussing a deal with billionaire Thai businessman William Heinecke.
American-born Heinecke’s Minor International hospitality chain is reported by Forbes to consist of 1,500 restaurants, 100 hotels, and 250 retail outlets spanning 18 countries – including the Maldives’ Anantara resorts.
MATATO, which represents more than 50 local businesses, revealed that it had been approached by a number of concerned members whom it believed would suffer as a result of such a deal.
“Presently there are many local businesses that act as supervision agents, and ground handlers for the considerable corporate and private jets that visit Maldives year round. Many of these local companies depend solely on the income generated from this business,” read the statement.
The association requested that all stakeholders begin a dialogue that might consider alternative arrangements to an exclusivity deal which it suggests lacks market competition, leading to poor services and “consumer exploitation”.
“The absence of competitive pricing that benefits the consumer, allows companies with exclusivity rights to charge higher prices for services, and inconvenience buyers.”
Following the purchase of both the Maldives’ seaplane operators by US private equity group Blackstone last year, hospitality groups revealed a subsequent raising of prices and reduction of services, reporting a potentially negative impact on industry profitability.
MATATO today argued that the airport deal would “only lead to unnecessary outflow of foreign exchange, loss of job opportunities for locals, a significant amount of control of the local market to foreign bodies, among many other negative factors.”
Alternatives suggested by MATATO was for the current management of the airport – the state-owned Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL) – to retain control and upgrade the facilities itself.
MACL took over management of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) following the premature termination of the Indian company GMR’s 25-year concession agreement by the previous government.
Shortly after winning the presidency last year, President Abdulla Yameen pledged to redevelop the airport with new foreign investment, while the government would retain the overall management of the airport.
The expansion of INIA – to accommodate five million passengers per year – subsequently featured among the ‘mega-projects’ presented to international investors during a landmark investment forum held in Singapore in April.
Shortly after the Singapore forum, the Maldivian Democratic Party – in power when the original GMR deal was signed – called for GMR’s reinstatement, vowing to annul any new airport contracts should it return to the power.
China’s state-owned engineering and construction company, Synohydro, is to build a US$ 9 million parking apron at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
The agreement was signed between the Maldives Airports Company (MACL) and Sinohydro on May 8.
MACL Managing Director ‘Bandhu’ Ibrahim Saleem said the new apron – to be built on the northern tip of the runway – will be 350 meters long and 75 meters wide. Four Boeing 777 airplanes can park on the apron.
Indian infrastructure giant GMR is only owed reimbursement for expenses, not compensation for the abrupt termination of the concession agreement to develop Malé International Airport (INIA), Attorney General Mohamed Anil has said.
Clarifying President Abdulla Yameen’s previous statement that GMR is owed a payment, Anil said the government believes the company is only owed reimbursement for a US$ 78 million upfront concession fee and any other expenses.
“When the agreement was first signed, US$78 million was given to the Maldivian government. In addition to that, we can see that they have spent some amount. So in the worst case scenario, if we are to revert to the state before the agreement was signed, everyone believes that they are owed [what they spent]. That is not as compensation for losses caused by the cancellation of the agreement,” he said.
GMR has said it will stick to a US$ 1.4 billion compensation claim – an amount that exceeds the annual state budget.
“The forceful takeover of the airport by Maldives government amounts to repudiation of a valid contract and therefore damages, including loss of future profit has to paid,” the company said in a statement on April 26.
Anil said GMR’s claim is unclear, as the company had not submitted documents detailing the assertion.
In response, GMR’s legal team member Uz. Fayyaz Ismail told Minivan News details of how GMR arrived at the figure will only be revealed in the second part of the arbitration process.
The arbitration tribunal in August 2013 had acceded to GMR’s request to split the proceedings in two – firstly determining liability, before quantifying the amount of compensation to be paid separately.
“GMR is claiming it to be a wrongful termination, and if the tribunal awards a verdict for that during the first part of this bifurcation arbitration [two part arbitration process] only then would the [compensation] amount be decided through second part of the arbitration. We are very confident the rightful compensation would be received,” Ismail said, adding that the figure may be subject to minor variations.
The GMR in consortium with Malaysia Airports (MAHB) narrowly won the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-managed bid for the airport in 2010, and signed the agreement with MACL under the former government of Mohamed Nasheed. The opposition at the time, including Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), then began a vitriolic nationalist campaign to evict GMR.
Following Nasheed’s ouster in 2012, President Mohamed Waheed’s administration terminated the agreement claiming it was ‘void ab initio’- invalid from the outset.
When the Singaporean High Court’s injunction blocking the Maldivian government from voiding the agreement was overturned by the Supreme Court in Singapore in June 2013, GMR initiated an arbitration process.
The first part of the arbitration took place in Singapore from April 10 – 16. Minivan News understands the arbitration tribunal considered GMR’s claim of wrongful termination, parallel claim for loss of profits over the lifespan of the agreement, and the Maldive’s counter-claim for restitution.
A verdict is expected soon, at the latest by mid- June. Depending on the verdict, the second process of arbitration will begin on a mutually agreed upon date.
Although Anil said the second half could take months to begin or even year for a ruling, Ismail has refuted the claim.
Meanwhile, Nasheed has warned of a sovereign debt crisis if the Maldives is forced to pay the full US$ 1.4 billion and reiterated his Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) call to reverse the decision to cancel the contract.
“The Maldives is now known around the world as a country that doesn’t keep its promises or honour the contracts. The airport fiasco will hit each and every Maldivian because banks won’t lend money and companies won’t invest in our country without demanding much higher rates of interest,” Nasheed said.
“By now, Maldivians should have been looking forward to a world-class, new airport, to rival Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Instead we have nothing but an abandoned building site. The actions of President [Abdulla] Yameen and [Dr Mohamed] Waheed have caused this crisis and Maldivians will be paying for their recklessness for decades to come” he added.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed has warned of a sovereign debt crisis if the Maldives is forced to pay US$1.4 billion in compensation to GMR over the abrupt termination of a concession agreement to develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
Nasheed also reiterated calls for the government to reverse the decision to cancel the contract in December 2012.
“The Maldives is now known around the world as a country that doesn’t keep its promises or honour the contracts. The airport fiasco will hit each and every Maldivian because banks won’t lend money and companies won’t invest in our country without demanding much higher rates of interest,” Nasheed was quoted as saying in a press release issued yesterday.
“By now, Maldivians should have been looking forward to a world-class, new airport, to rival Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Instead we have nothing but an abandoned building site. The actions of President [Abdulla] Yameen and [Dr Mohamed] Waheed have caused this crisis and Maldivians will be paying for their recklessness for decades to come” he added.
Nasheed’s remarks comes on the heels of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – of which he was recently appointed acting president – threatening to terminate any new agreements concerning the airport should the party regain power.
Failure to reinstate the airport development contract would cause the Maldives to “suffer unforeseeable risk and irrevocable harm,” the party said in a statement yesterday.
“The forceful takeover of the airport by Maldives government amounts to repudiation of a valid contract and therefore damages, including loss of future profit has to paid,” the company said in a statement on Friday (April 26).
Asked by reporters a day earlier if he was confident the outcome of the arbitration would be favourable for the Maldives, President Yameen said: “The reality we have to accept is that a government with full sovereign powers made an agreement with a foreign party and leased [the airport]. This is a government, and what preceded this was a government as well. So believe we have to pay them some kind of financial compensation.”
If the judges on the arbitration panel accept the government’s arguments for nationalisation or expropriation, Yameen said the compensation owed to GMR could be smaller.
“We’re going to have to provide compensation in any case,” he conceded.
Yameen however contended later that GMR was owed US$300 million as compensation for its investment as well as upgrades to the airport.
The US$1.4 billion sought by GMR at the Singapore Court of Appeal for “wrongful termination” of the 25-year contract exceeds the annual state budget whilst the national debt is expected to rise to MVR31 billion (US$2 billion) this year.
Nasheed meanwhile warned that “the consequences of the outcome of the arbitration will drive the Maldivian economy to the brink, leading to major sovereign debt crisis.”
The statement noted that estimated GDP for 2014 was US$2.5 billion with an external debt of US$868 billion while the Maldives presently “receives less than US$30 million in grant aid.”
“Coupled by the budget deficit and domestic debt crisis, we are looking at a heavy burden on our children and grandchildren. It would mean by the end of 2014, debt will increase from 25 percent of GDP to 88 percent of GDP,” it added.
Flyme has announced that the company’s first seaplane is expected to arrive in Maldives on Monday (April 28).
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a single turboprop engine, fixed-gear short-haul aircraft manufactured by Cessna. The airplane typically seats seven passengers with a pilot and co-pilot, according to Vnews.
Flyme said that the seaplane services will be open for locals, adding that more seaplanes would join the Flyme seaplane fleet in the future.
Flyme is a company under the umbrella of Villa Shipping and Trading Company, and currently serves nine local airports.
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