Tag: maldives news

Islamic finance has gained confidence in Maldives: Deputy Islamic Minister Dr Muneeza

Islamic finance has gained confidence in the Maldives with increased awareness among the public of its role in eliminating Riba (interest), according to Deputy Islamic Minister Dr Aishath Muneeza.

Writing in the Islamic Finance News website, Dr Muneeza stated that Islamic finance has been “spreading like wildfire” since the introduction of Islamic banking and capital market services in 2011.

“Demand for Islamic finance is evident and has proved that there is inherent demand for Islamic finance as the Maldives is a country with a 100% Muslim population. It is hoped that in the upcoming years the Maldives can be used as a global case study to prove the success of Islamic finance,” she wrote.

Under Islamic Shariah, any risk-free or guaranteed rate of return on a loan or investment is considered riba, which is prohibited in Islam.

In her article, Dr Muneeza explained that the first form of Islamic finance introduced in the country was Takaful in 2003, which involves mutual protection of assets and property and joint risk-sharing.

Conventional insurance is also prohibited in Islam because of forbidden elements such as Riba.

Following the wider introduction of Islamic finance in 2011, Dr Muneeza observed that it is now “considered as an integral part in the development of nation”.

The previous year meanwhile saw the introduction of “new innovative Islamic finance instruments” by both the government and private corporations, she noted.

In 2013, the government signed the first sovereign private Sukuk – an asset-backed bond which is structured in accordance with Shariah for trade in the market – deal in addition to the central bank issuing the first Islamic treasury bill.

Moreover, she added, four pieces of regulation governing Sukuk, Islamic securities, Shariah advisors, and the capital market Shariah advisory council were introduced last year.

The government-owned Housing Development Corporation also issued the first corporate Sukuk while the first Islamic hire-purchase product was unveiled by a private company, she noted.

In addition, the government formed the Maldives Hajj Corporation – of which Dr Muneeza is the chairwoman – as a pilgrimage fund and issued Halal certificates for fish products.

The Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) hired a Sukuk advisor for real estate projects commencing this year, she added.

“Furthermore, regulatory consents have been given to the Islamic banking window of Bank of Maldives and the Takaful window of Allied Insurance Maldives to start their operations. Some products of these companies have been given consent by the Maldives Monetary Authority,” she wrote.

The government also planned to form “a national-level technical committee to monitor and supervise sovereign Islamic finance issues,” she revealed.

“Definitely, 2013 is a super duper hit year for the growth of Islamic finance industry,” Dr Muneeza suggested.

Developments expected in 2014 meanwhile included the inauguration of “Islamic windows” by the Bank of Maldives and Allied Insurance. The government anticipated that “a large number of customers will switch from conventional banking to Islamic banking when this takes place.”

Islamic fund management would also be introduced this year while the government had plans to “introduce an Islamic finance centre that will not only provide offshore Islamic financial services, but this centre will act as the Islamic finance hub for the whole South Asia region.”

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MBC asks DhiTV to respond to the case filed by ACC

The Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) has asked private TV station DhiTV to respond to a case file by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) alleging that the TV station had misled the public.

Speaking to Minivan News today, ACC President Hassan Luthfee said that the commission had filed the case with MBC after DhiTV had irresponsibly criticised the commission.

“It is alright to criticise me, but the Anti-Corruption Commission is a state institution and everyone must respect all the state institutions,’’ he said. “We accept criticism but it also has to be done professionally.’’

Luthfee said he does not remember the exact quotes broadcast on DhiTV.

“We normally do not give any information about cases before the investigation is concluded and I do not know how the media knew that we filed a case with the MBC,’’ he said.

Furthermore, Luthfee said that everyone must work together to correct issues with the state institutions, and that criticism alone could not solve any issue.

Online newspaper Sun reported that the MBC had sent a letter to DhiTV asking it to respond to the allegations by March 13.

Sun reported that the ACC had filed the case with MBC claiming that on January 20, 2014, DhiTV aired a TV program called ‘Talk of the town’ in which the TV station had broadcast content that was disrespectful of the corruption watchdog.

According to Sun, MBC told DhiTV that the station was alleged to have violated the MBC Code of Practice Article (3)(1), though it had not yet concluded its investigations.

Last month, MBC asked DhiTV and its sister company – the radio station DhiFM Plus – to stop using upside down images of Elections Commission (EC) President Fuwad Thowfeek.

MBC President Mohamed Shaheeb sent a letter to the two stations advising them not to broadcast anything in a way that might encourage unrest, and to keep in mind that the parliament elections were ahead.

MBC gave similar advice to the two stations in November after they had shown photos of three members of the EC – Thowfeek, Ahmed Fayaz, and Ali Mohamed Manik – upside down with a caption alleging that they had committed electoral fraud in the annulled September 7 presidential election.

Following the incident, MBC sent a circular to all broadcasters noting that complaints regarding the disrespectful use of photos had led to it taking action against media outlets for violating the broadcasting code.

In January this year MBC ordered both the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) aligned Raajje TV and the Jumhooree Party-aligned VTV to issue apologies for content broadcast during the prolonged presidential election.

While Raajje TV was found to have aired content defamatory to the Supreme Court, VTV was asked to issue an apology for material defaming the MDP’s presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed, as well  as MP Rozaina Adam, and EC President Thowfeek.

Broadcasting any image or video footage that disrespects the honor or sanctity of a person or a group of persons is in violation of MBC’s Code of Practice.

The broadcasting commission is a 7-member body entrusted with implementation of broadcasting policy, regulation of broadcasting industry, and the promotion of responsible broadcasting, was formed in 2010 under the Broadcasting Act.

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State to cover all expenses of HIV infected woman’s children: Health Minister

Minister of Health and Family Dr Mariyam Shakeela has said the state will cover all expenses of all children of the woman infected with HIV due to the negligence of state hospital IGMH up until the completion of their studies.

However, details of how many children the woman has or to what standard the government will sponsor their studies and livelihood were not provided.

Shakeela further stated that the unborn child of the pregnant woman is of “good health” and that the baby is “showing a good response” to medication.

“God willing the baby’s progress is good, and is under continued supervision,” she told media after a press conference held together with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday.

Shakeela confirmed that the baby is receiving the “best treatment for HIV that is given by the WHO”, adding that the organisation’s head office in Geneva and the Health Ministry is continuing to hold daily teleconferences on the status of the mother and her unborn baby.

WHO Regional Director for South East Asia Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh reiterated that the organisation is extending assistance, and applauded the Maldives government for having taken “productive action” following the incident.

“As a result of the investigation launched by the government, other such issues in the Health Sector will come to light and incidents like this can be avoided in future. Together with this, the capacity of the laboratory can be increased,” Singh said, mentioning that she had visited the IGMH laboratory on Tuesday.

WHO pledges assistance to the health sector

Today’s press conference was officially held to mark the end of Dr Singh’s two day visit to the Maldives. Dr Singh commended the government for its “commitment and vision for universal health coverage for all its citizens”.

Last week, President Abdulla Yameen’s administration announced the introduction of universal healthcare, maintaining that the enhanced coverage – previously capped at MVR100,000 – was financially sustainable.

“The most major challenges faced by the Maldives, like many other countries in the region, is the issue of having sufficient human resources, and the procurement of medicine,” Singh noted.

She said that the WHO was currently working with the government to explore ways in which to ease the procurement of medicines, adding that some initiatives include purchasing generic medicine instead of patented ones, and promoting bulk purchase of medicines – both of which would bring down costs considerably.

Health Minister Shakeela further stated that the government is paying special attention to training more locals to work as nurses and doctors, stating that this would bring down the number of foreign nationals working in the health sector.

Singh further noted that the Maldives has achieved much on the front of strengthening its disease surveillance, response,and case management capacity for dengue control.

“Despite challenges such as high turnover of doctors in the islands, and difficulty in retaining experience and expertise, Maldives has maintained a low case-fatality rate for dengue.”

“This is a country whose collective efforts and strong determination have successfully eliminated malaria and has sustained this remarkable achievement. Maldives is the only country in WHO’s South- East Asia Region to achieve this goal,” she continued.

“We would like Maldives to reflect on the malaria experience and use their expertise to prevent dengue which poses a major public health risk to its citizens.”

Dr Singh also met with Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed on Tuesday and congratulated him on Maldives’ achievements made towards the Millenium Development Goals and what she termed as “gains in public health more broadly over the past decade”.

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Judiciary excluded from presidential address due to Yameen’s trust in the institution

President Abdulla Yameen’s failure to discuss judicial reform in his first presidential address was due to the “trust [he] has in the institution” and because of the respect the government feels towards the bench, he has said.

Speaking at the opening of a campaign office for PPM candidate Mohamed Ameeth, Yameen stated that the government will not criticise the judiciary’s verdicts, and that the institution has the government’s trust.

Yameen had been the subject of criticism from the political opposition, who described his speech at the opening of the People’s Majlis as failing to address the country’s most pressing issues.

Yameen did acknowledge, however, that there are delays in the completion of some cases by the judiciary, adding that the executive is currently working with the judiciary to seek solutions to the issue.

“Even during the presidential election campaigns we never criticised any judgement or verdict of the judiciary. What we did criticise was the slow rate of cases going through, and how some cases get delayed for long periods of time,” said the president.

“That is still the case, and we will continue talking about this lack of speed,” Yameen said.

Following the president’s address, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Imthiyaz Fahmy accused the president of omitting critical issues from the address, including the state of the judiciary, and decentralised governance.

Discussing the approaching parliamentary elections yesterday, the president suggested that the MDP had a record of acting dictatorially when holding a Majlis majority.

He accused the now-opposition party of unduly influenced independent institutions when in power, asserting that this behaviour will never be seen from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives government.

Yameen further stated that the MDP, while loudly advocating for the separation of powers, had “locked and bolted the powers”.

While the opposition currently hold the majority of seats in parliament, they have so far failed to appoint a prosecutor general or a member for the vacant seat in the EC, he noted.

The MDP has pledged judicial reform during it’s Majlis campaign, while the party’s slogan for this year’s campaign is ‘Vote for the scale for separation of powers’.

Case against the EC

Yameen also addressed the case against the Elections Commission (EC) in the Supreme Court, stating that it was not a matter that concerned the executive.

He stated that, while some foreign countries are raising concerns about the matter, he believed the court case against the EC was something the government need not interfere with.

Yameen questioned the logic of countries who expressed concern about the matter, stating that it was “inexplicable” when the separation of powers was generally accepted.

“It is these foreign powers who most strongly want assurance that the executive will not interfere with matters of the judiciary. And yet today, when there is a case against an independent institution, they are worried that we are not interfering and making comments on the matter.

“Our foreign policy is to respectfully accept their concerns, and to still not comment on an institution which in our sovereign right the government wishes to refrain from commenting on,” Yameen stated.

He asserted that justice would be served to all alike – whether they be from among the general public, or someone holding a senior office in a state institution. The president concluded by saying that even if he himself was summoned to the Supreme Court, he would attend dutifully and without question.

While addressing the UN Human Rights Council this week, Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon also called upon the international community not to undermine the Maldives judiciary .

The judiciary has been criticised by a number of international actors as being both under qualified and lacking independence.

Prominent critics have included the UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul, the International Committee of Jurists, the UK Bar Human Rights Committee, and the US State Department.

In June 2013, spy camera footage revealed a Supreme Court judge allegedly speaking about the politicisation of the judiciary, stating “even [Parliament Speaker]Abdulla Shahid will know very well that my stand is to do things the way [current president] Yameen wants.”

In the tape, the judge also claimed to be a person who “even Yameen cannot play with” and that over time he had “shown Yameen” who he is.

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State to appoint lawyer to Hanaa in her appeal case

The Attorney General’s Office has said that it will appoint a lawyer for Fathimath Hanaa, who was sentenced to death after the court found her guilty of assisting Ahmed Murrath in murdering of prominent lawyer Ahmed Najeeb.

In the latest hearing of her appeal case, the High Court bench had announced that Hanaa was not eligible for a state-appointed lawyer.

Hanaa had subsequently told the court that she needed three months to appoint a lawyer, with the Prosecutor General’s Office giving no objection to this request.

However, the Attorney General’s office has today told local media that Hanaa now meets the requirements after she submitted additional documents to the office.

On July 2, 2012, the 65 year-old lawyer’s body was found stuffed inside a dustbin at Masroora house – Murrath’s residence – badly beaten with multiple stab wounds.

Speaking at the Criminal Court during the 2012 trial, Murrath’s girlfriend said that her boyfriend killed Najeeb after he became “sure” the lawyer had attempted to sexually assault her. She admitted to tying Najeeb’s hand, legs, and taped his mouth while Murrath threatened him with a knife.

“We thought he must have a lot of money as he is a lawyer,” she told the court, after declining representation from a lawyer.

Najeeb’s cash card was taken from him and the pair had used it to withdraw money.

According to Hanaa, she did not know that the victim had been killed until Murrath woke her up and told her at around 4:00am. At the time Hanaa said she was sleeping – intoxicated from drinking alcohol.

Murrath corroborated this course of events in his statement, saying that she was asleep when he killed the lawyer. He confessed to killing Najeeb out of anger and apologised to the family members.

On February 17, Ahmed Murrath – the man sentenced to death by the Criminal Court after being found guilty of murdering Najeeb – retracted the confession previously given to the court.

During the last hearing held in to the appeal case of Murrath, his lawyer Abdul Hakeem Rashadh told the High Court that his client’s hands were handcuffed behind his back when he made the confession which therefore could not be considered a confession made without coercion.

On February 9, the cabinet advised President Abdulla Yameen that there was no legal obstruction to implementing death sentences, after the Home Minister Umar Naseer had ordered an end to the 60 year moratorium on executions.

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Brohood Construction Company assigned to install waste management system in Raa atoll

The government has signed an agreement to install waste management systems in Rasgatheemu, Agolhutheemu, and Rasmaadhoo islands – all three islands are in Raa atoll.

A special function was held yesterday at the Environment Ministry to sign the contract with Brohood Construction Company.

State Minister for Environment Ministry Hassan Shah explained that the three projects will cost MVR2.1 million and that the company was to finish the project in 90 days.

The ministry has also revealed details of its recent waste management awareness-raising programmes conducted in both Malé and Hulhumalé.

The programme took place last Saturday (March 1) in Hulhumalé and on February 22 in Malé, sought to increase knowledge of the recently introduced laws that came into effect last month.

The waste management regulation came into force on February 5 and imposes an MVR100 (US$6.5) for littering and a fine between MVR10,000 (US$ 648.5) – MVR100,000 (US$6,485) if any authority in charge of public spaces fails to place public dustbins.

The regulations also mandate boat owners to place dustbins on sea vessels and imposes a fine between MVR100 million (US$6.5 million) and MVR500 million (US$32.4 million) on boats that dump waste into the ocean

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Crew member injured in fire onboard STO oil tanker

A crew member of a State Trading Organisation (STO) oil tanker en route to the gulf was injured in a fire accident yesterday, local media reports.

STO Managing Director Adam Azim told newspaper Haveeru that the incident occurred onboard the ‘Aihuras’ vessel while it was near the coast of the city of Mumbai in India. There was no oil on the ship when the fire broke out, he noted.

The burnt crew member was taken to a Mumbai hospital for treatment while the ship was undergoing repairs for minor damages caused by the fire.

“It was not a very dangerous incident. We would know of the injuries sustained by the crew member in detail after seeing the doctor’s report,” Azim was quoted as saying.

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PG drops contempt charges against former AG Suood

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office has decided not to prosecute former Attorney General Husnu Suood on charges of contempt of court, local media has reported.

In January, the Supreme Court suspended Suood and barred the prominent lawyer from all courts pending a court-ordered police investigation of alleged contempt of court.

The former AG had represented the Elections Commission (EC) in the election annulment case before being thrown out and barred from proceedings.

The apex court contended that Suood’s alleged remarks in social media, criticising its judgment annulling the first round of last year’s presidential election constituted contempt of court.

The PG’s decision came after police forwarded the case for prosecution upon completion of its investigation.

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Shamau to represent Malé City Council on LGA board

The newly-elected Malé City Council (MCC) has chosen Maafanu West Councillor Mohamed Shamau Shareef as its representative to the Local Government Authority’s board.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) councillor was elected with the unanimous consent of all councillors present at a meeting yesterday.

The opposition party controls a majority of the capital city’s council with eight seats. The ruling Progressive Party of Maldives has three seats.

Under the landmark Decentralisation Act, the LGA is tasked with monitoring councils, ensuring standards, improving technical capacity, and coordinating with the central government.

The LGA board consists of a cabinet minister appointed by the president, a member appointed from the MCC, four atoll councillors elected from among members of atoll councils, a representative from civil society appointed by parliament, a member of the general public appointed by parliament, and a member elected from the Addu and Malé city councils.

Elections to chose representatives from city councils and atoll councils are due to place on March 18.

The former civil society representative to the LGA, Ahmed Faisal, meanwhile resigned from his post last month.

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