Tag: maldives news

‘G-Spot’ doesn’t exist, contends shop owner in ongoing case against Economic Development Ministry

Mohamed Nizam, the owner of a shop in Male’ called ”G-Spot” has sued the Economic Development Ministry after it was declined permission to operate as a business because of its name, reported SunFM.

Today the first hearing of the case was conducted in the Civil Court.

SunFM reported that in the court, Nizam said that the name was first approved by the Economic Development Ministry and was also registered in the ministry.

He also said that he had spent a lot of money making the name board of the shop, printing paper bags and tags, all of which were done in the name of ‘G-Spot’.

State Attorney Aishath Seeza argued that the name ‘G-Spot’ was inappropriate to be used as a shop’s name and that it referred to the sexual organs of a male or female, according to SunFM.

She also said that the name was inappropriate for viewing by women and children.

In response to the state attorney, Nazim contested that the ”G-Spot” as Seeza understood it did not exist, submitting articles published in The Times, BBC and CNN to support his argument.

He also said that by’ G-Spot’ he did not mean what the state attorney was referring to.

Judge Maryam Nihayath queried him as to the meaning of G-Spot, to which he replied that G stood for ‘Girls’ and that his shop was a ‘Girls-Spot’ and sold female garments.

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Supreme Court disputes allegations of corruption against judges

The Supreme Court of the Maldives has issued a press release disputing the corruption allegations made against former Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, who is currently a member of the Supreme Court bench, and a second Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed.

”The stories published are all untrue,” the statement said. ”We advise not to conduct any attempts that will harm the sanctity of the courts and its judges and to keep all actions within the constitution of the Maldives.”

The statement said that repairing Supreme Court’s cars and vehicles was not within the job description of the judges and judges had no role to play in repairing the Supreme Court’s vehicles, after allegations that Hameed had twice repaired his car with Supreme Court funds.

No judge at the Supreme Court had ever received phone allowances or any other allowance, and no judge at the Supreme Court receives any allowance not mentioned in the constitution or laws, said the Supreme Court in its statement.

Local radio station SunFM yesterday reported that the two judges were accused of corruption and a case was filed in the ACC, alleging that the two judges had paid their personal telephone bills from Supreme Court funds.

SunFM quoted a senior staff member at the judiciary as saying that the phone bills of each of the judge totaled over Rf 17,000 (US$1323) each month.

”Last month judge Abdulla Saeed’s spent Rf 25,000 (US$1945) of the Supreme Court’s money as phone allowance,” SunFM quoted the source as saying.

SunFM also reported that judge Ali Hameed’s car was damaged twice in accidents and was also repaired using Supreme Court money.

The source in the judiciary also alleged that Ali Hameed had threatened a staff member at the Finance Department of the Supreme Court saying that he would be sacked if the did not hand over the money to fix the car after the second accident.

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Madaveli O’Level results investigated after students provide same answers to maths paper

Cambridge University has queried GCE O’Level mathematics papers submitted by Madaveli School in Shaviyani Atoll, after finding that all students had provided similar answers.

Haveeru reported that the school, which placed second in last years GCE O’Level examinations in the Maldives.

Director General at the Ministry of Education’s Department of Public Examination, Ahmed Shakeeb, confirmed to Haveeru that Cambridge University has questioned the department, and that a team from the ministry had been sent to the island to investigate the suspected cheating.

Shakeeb did not provide details of the investigation, but said cases involving similar answers occasionally arose.

“Such issues arise in subjects such as Fisheries Science, which includes a lot of group work. The students provide similar answers or those having similar sentences when they go on field trips and do group work. However, in such cases questions arise about whether the students have cheated or not,” Shakeeb told Haveeru.

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Former Chief Justice and Supreme Court Judge face corruption allegations

Former Chief Justice of of the Supreme Court Abdulla Saeed has denied allegations of corruption after a case against him and another former Supreme Court, Ali Hameed, were filed with Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

Abdulla Saeed is currently a judge on the new Supreme Court bench, and was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the constitutional interim period.

Local radio station SunFM reported that the two judges were accused of corruption and a case was filed in the ACC, alleging that the two judges had paid their personal telephone bills from Supreme Court’s funds.

SunFM quoted a senior staff member at the judiciary as saying that the phone bills of each of the judge totaled over Rf 17,000 (US$1323) each month.

”Last month judge Abdulla Saeed’s spent Rf 25,000 (US$1945) of the Supreme Court’s money as phone allowance,” SunFM quoted the source as saying.

SunFM also reported that judge Ali Hameed’s car was damaged twice in accidents and was also repaired using Supreme Court money.

The source in the judiciary also alleged that Ali Hameed had threatened a staff member at the Finance Department of the Supreme Court saying that he would be sacked if the did not hand over the money to fix the car after the second accident.

Judge Abdulla Saeed dismissed the allegations as ”lies”.

”W have never involved ourselves in any financial or administrative work of the Court,” Saeed told Minivan News. ”Any allowances we receive will be only those mentioned in the laws, and we do not have any other allowances.”

Saeed said the Supreme Court judges were ”very sincere in upholding the constitution and maintaining rule of law. I am very confident that no judge at the Supreme Court bench will violate any laws.”

He also said the financial report of the judges was submitted to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) annually.

”The Commission has the power to oversee all our credit card transactions as well,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court was to issue a press statement over the allegations.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has called into doubt the JSC’s independence, noting in its recently-published report that “to date, JSC decision-making has been perceived as being inappropriately influenced by a polarised political environment. Also troubling is that members of the judiciary have been subject to threats and intimidation as well as improper inducements by both governing and opposition party members.”

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Meemu Atoll Council refuses to hand over former Atoll House and assets to state

Head of Meemu Atoll Council Ahmed Sulaiman has told Minivan News that police have tried to take over the former Atoll House, a car and a speedboat in Mulee.

”Police called us and said the Finance Ministry had sent a letter requesting police to take over government assets in Mulee including a car, speedboat, the council’s administrative office and former Atoll House,” Sulaiman said. ”Police said they wanted a response from the council and we said we would not let go of those assets unless the court orders us to do so.”

Sulaiman said the council explained to police that ”we bear the rights of many citizens and we have to protect it.”

”I agree that the government granted the speedboat to this island, but the two engines in it belongs to the islanders, it was bought on the islander’s account,” Sulaiman said. ”It is not clear to us why the Finance Ministry asked police to take over those assets.”

Sulaiman said the council would have to “conduct their work on the streets”.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said police did not want to confiscate the council’s administrative office, only the other assets.

”Police went to the island because the Finance Ministry has requested us by letter to take over the assets, the former Atoll House and other assets,” said Shiyam. ”But they refused to hand it over. We have not yet taken any action against them.”

State Finance Minister Ahmed Assad did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Recently, the government asked police to take over former Atoll Office of Kaafu Atoll Council in Thulusdhoo after the council decided they would move their administrative office in former Atoll Office.

Confrontati0ns occurred between the islanders and police when  police tried to block entrance to the former Atoll Office.

The case is now pending in court and both the government and council have been waiting for the ruling, however  the first hearing of the case is yet to be scheduled.

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Bahrain declares martial law as Saudi troops clash with Shia protesters

The King of Bahrain has declared martial law in the Gulf state after allowing 1000 troops from Saudi Arabia into the country to quell an uprising of Shia demonstrators.

Violent demonstrations in tiny Shia-majority country, ruled by a US-backed Sunni-elite, yesterday saw four shot dead, including two protesters, one Bahrani policemen, and a Saudi soldier.

A further six protesters were declared dead after troops overran the demonstrators camp this morning. Observers also observed an armoured personal carrier on the scene with the flag of the UAE.

A doctor spoken to by the UK’s Guardian newspaper said that Saudi troops were preventing staff from leaving the hospital where he worked.

“They are shooting at us, they are shooting,” he said. “Get help, get the international community to help.”

Media reported protesters outside the hospital as chanting “with our blood and our souls we will fight the mercenaries.”

Bahrain’s opposition Shia Wefaq party yesterday issued a statement condemning the arrival of Saudi troops as an assault on the country’s sovereignty.

“We consider the entry of Saudi Arabia or other Gulf forces into the Kingdom of Bahrain’s air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation,” the party said.

Iran, a majority Shia country, waded into the burgeoning conflict when foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi asked Bahrain not to harm the Shia demonstrators. In response, Bahrain withdrew its ambassador from Tehran in protest.

An Iranian MP, Kazem Jalali, described the Saudi interference as a “criminal” attempt by the US and Saudi Arabia to repress peaceful anti-government protests, pointing to the recent visit of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to he gulf nation.

There were further signs that the escalating crisis in the 200 year-old monarchy could reignite an ongoing Sunni-Shia feud in the region, after the militant Shia Hezbollah group in Lebanon said that military action against demonstrations would disrupt Bahrain’s already fragile society – 70 percent of the population are Shia, but are largely underrepresented in senior government and political positions.

“Military intervention and the use of violence against a peaceful and popular movement will only complicate matters and eliminate chances of finding a solution,” Hezbollah said.

The UK embassy in the Bahraini capital of Manama closed its doors, while the US – which has substantial military assets in the kingdom, including the US Fifth fleet – ruled out military action.

The UK has closed its embassy in Manama, while the EU and the US have said there is “no military solution” to the crisis. The US maintains its Fifth Fleet in Manama’s port and has significant intelligence interests in the kingdom.

The Formula One grand prix, due to be held in Bahrain this year, has been postponed.


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Fuel prices increase after tsunami and Middle Eastern instability

Petrol prices have risen Rf 0.87 and diesel by Rf 0.96 a litre on the back of growing instability in the Middle East and panicked Asian markets after Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown threat.

The State Trading Organisation (STO) raised petrol to Rf 12.67 a litre and diesel to Rf 12.61, the second increase of the year. Local retailers followed suit.

The Maldives spends 25 percent of its GDP on fuel and is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to oil price rises. A government official recently speculated that were the price of fuel to double, the Maldivian economy would “collapse within hours”.

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Addu students learning hydroponics

The UK-based Little Growers foundation has launched a project with Maradhoofeydhoo school in Addu City in an effort to teach school children how to grow food using modern hydroponics.

The foundation is the initiative of a company called AutoPot, which provides self-watering hydroponics technology to schools across the UK. The system, invented by British inventor Jason Ralph-Smith, is gravity-fed and works without electricity, and can be left unattended for weeks at a time.

Little Growers UK and the local distributor of AutoPot hydroponic systems, Mahaadheebu, have already launched the project at Maradhoofeydhoo school and Hithadhoo school, and will soon be expanding the project to Feydhoo school and schools in Male’.

Mahaadheebu’s Managing Director Mohamed Zahid explained to Minivan News that the set up consisted of a 10 AutoPot hydroponics setups and a 10 foot by 6 foot polytunnel greenhouse, “ready made in the UK and assembled at the schools. It has a zip cover that can be unziped on sunny days and zipped up on rainy days,” he said.

The foundation had enlisted students at the environment clubs of the various schools, and actively engaged them in growing fruit and vegetables with a view to making an income – potentially by supplying local resorts. Students are growing tomatoes and long beans.

Transport remains a problem for large-scale commercial growers, with the high cost of cargo transport in the Maldives eating into margins. However hydroponically-grown produce, Zahid expained, fetched up to three times the price of that cultivated on land.

Addu students are learning hydroponic agriculture

“When the fruit is healthy and nourishing it has better flavour and smell,” he said. “In Addu there are two tourist resorts that do not get enough local supply and import produce like tomatoes that can be grown locally. The school children will be able to grow a good-quality harvest and sell it to the resorts.”

Agriculture in the Maldives faces a large number of practical challenges, not the least of which is lack of both expertise and arable land – factors which compel most of the country’s resorts to import large quantities of easily-grown staple vegetables such as tomato and lettuce from overseas at great financial and environmental cost.

“In the Maldives there is little land available, and the land that is available is not fertile,” Zahid explained. “One solution is something like AutoPot, which allows schools and communities togrow fruit and vegetables in a very small area at little expense, and profit from the harvest.”

Since launching at the beginning of 2010, six customers had inquired about established large-scale greenhouses for growing high-quality fruit and vegetables, he said. Several resorts had also contacted the company looking to expand small garden setups into hydroponic stations that could grow herbs and other fresh produce.

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Maldivian flag at half mast in mourning for Japanese tsunami victims

President Mohamed Nasheed has ordered the Maldives national flag to be flown at half mast for three days, out of respect for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Cabinet members yesterday observed a minute’s silence for the stricken country, which is one of the Maldives’ most active development partners.

The death toll is predicted to reach 10,000. Japan continues to tackle the risk of nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, after three hydrogen explosions in the last four days and another fire that broke out in reactor four yesterday.

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