President Mohamed Waheed has appointed Mohamed Ibrahim as Minister of State for Transport and Communications after removing him from his Managing Director post at Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL).
Replacing Ibrahim as MD of MACL is Dr Ibrahim Mahfooz, who has served as the Chief Internal Auditor of State Trading Organisation (STO) for the last 16 years.
Mohamed Ibrahim will be taking over from Acting Transport Minister Mohamed Nazim.
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(0)Attorney General Azima Shukoor has drafted a bill outlining how the death sentence should be executed in the Maldives, with lethal injection being identified as the state’s preferred method of capital punishment.
Shukoor today held a press conference to provide local media with information about the bill, which is also to be opened for public comment.
The Attorney General’s Office has said that it has looked to procedures followed by Egypt, Malaysia and the US in carrying out the death sentence, while also obtaining the opinions of religious scholars and lawyers when drafting the bill.
With the bill favouring the use of lethal injection to execute suspected criminals, Shukoor said the proposals would be open for public comment for one month.
Court procedure
In the case of a suspected murder trial, the bill drafted by Shukoor obliges the accused to be represented by a lawyer during their trial. In any case where the accused refuses to have a lawyer, the bill would require the state to provide legal representation for the respondent.
According to the new bill, when the Criminal Court proceeds with a murder case, it would need to have a bench consisting of three judges, one of whom has to have studied Islamic Sharia.
The bill would also oblige the High Court to have a panel of five judges overhearing murder cases, with the Supreme Court required to have a panel of seven judges.
According to the bill, any death sentence cannot be executed without the final judgement of the Supreme Court.
Photographing and filming of any execution carried out by the state would also be deemed unlawful under the attorney general’s proposals.
Should a suspect who is a minor, pregnant or in a critical medical condition be found guilty of murder, the bill states that the execution shall be delayed.
Shukoor also included an article concerning the authority currently given to the Head of State to commute death sentences to life sentences. The bill noted that AG’s Office needed further time review the matter as the opinions of different experts were inconsistent on the president’s prerogative to commute sentences.
According to the bill, a suspect found guilty of murder would also be provided with the opportunity to meet his family on the day of execution and say their last words.
In October this year, the government has announced its intention to introduce a bill to the People’s Majlis in order to guide and govern the implementation of the death penalty in the country.
“It is currently a punishment passed by the judiciary and a form of punishment available within the penal system of the Maldives,” said Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed at the time.
“But for full guidance and matters governing the matter, legislation is required,” he added.
The last person to be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, who was executed by firing squad in 1953 after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.
Statistics show that from January 2001 to December 2010, a total of 14 people were sentenced to death by Maldivian courts.
However, in all cases, the acting president has commuted these verdicts to life sentences.
Judicial concerns
Speaking to Minivan News earlier this month, former Foreign Minister and UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran Dr Ahmed Shaheed identified the “pathetic state of the [Maldives] judiciary” as one of the key human rights concerns he believed needed to be addressed in the country.
“[The judiciary] is not only corrupt, but also coming under the influence of radical Islam, even to the extent of violating codified laws of the Maldives and clear international obligations,” Dr Shaheed claimed yesterday.
“Disregard for rule of law has also meant that a culture of impunity is deeply entrenched, rendering many of the human rights of the people meaningless.”
(0)Dislikes(0)Attorney General (AG) Azima Shukoor has claimed that a loan guarantee provided by the former government to infrastructure group GMR would have allowed the company to obtain finance without limitation.
According to local media, the attorney general has alleged that such a loan agreement would have contravened the country’s financial regulations unless approved by parliament at the time.
However, her claims have been dismissed by former Attorney General Ahmed Ali Sawad, who claimed that the agreement was conducted within state laws. Sawad helped oversee the agreement between GMR and former President Mohamed Nasheed’s government back in 2010.
GMR’s concession agreement was terminated by the Maldives government late last month after it decided – citing legal advice – that the sovereign contract was invalid from the outset.
Speaking to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee yesterday (December 19), Shukoor revealed that the Maldivian state had agreed under the cancelled contract to act as a guarantor for all loans obtained by GMR under its agreement to develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
According to the attorney general, this provision had been approved despite not being part of any senior finance agreement.
Shukoor added that under the primary agreement between the state-owned Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) and GMR, should MACL fail to make any repayments, the Maldivian state would have to cover any resulting costs.
“[The state] is not part of the senior agreement, thus to act as guarantor for loans obtained by another group – whether this was done with approval or not – would be to give a ‘blanket’ guarantee. I don’t think this can be permitted. I don’t believe that even the Public Accounts Committee would do that,” local media reported Shukoor as saying.
The agreement, which states that the Maldivian government is responsible for all loans obtained by GMR, was made with the approval of former Attorney General Sawad, Shukoor said.
According to Shukoor, Sawad had permitted the agreement in writing, concluding at the time that the deal would not result in any legal problems.
She also claimed that approving the agreement without parliament’s approval was in violation of the Finance Act.
“Financial guarantees given by the state should have limits. We are signing an agreement allowing future groups to obtain as much money as they want under our guarantee – I don’t believe that this is a valid legal concept,” Shukoor was reported to have said.
Responding to Shukoor’s comments, Sawad today told Minivan News that he “did not believe” there had been a violation of any law whilst he held the position of attorney general.
“I deny her claims, although I’m not actually sure what her claim is. I don’t think she knows what her claim is,” he said.
“She [Shukoor] needs to figure out if it was a guarantee or not a guarantee, because in the meeting she said that it ‘was a guarantee’ and then said that it was like a guarantee’. Regardless of whether or not it was a guarantee, the whole thing is irrelevant as she has stated the GMR contract is void ab initio (invalid from the outset),” Sawad claimed.
GMR’s tender agreement to develop INIA was overseen at the time by legal and financial experts including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – a World Bank entity. The deal also obtained the certified approval of former Attorney General Sawad.
Attorney General Shukoor was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.
Speaking to the committee yesterday, local media reported Shukoor as stating that Singapore’s Axis bank had permitted GMR to obtain loans worth $386 million, of which GMR had taken $165 million. Shukoor highlighted that should GMR fail to repay this loan, then the government would have been required to meet any resulting costs.
She stated that if the government found itself unable to pay back these loans, the image of the state will be damaged, leading to potential implications for securing future finance.
“When we think about taking legal action in relation to this matter, we see that the head state prosecutor has advised that signing that agreement should not cause any legal problems. So it becomes something the state has to honour,” she added.
Despite the former Attorney General approving the agreement, Shukoor stated that government has a strong legal argument over the loan issue, whereby under the Public Finance Act, the government cannot act as a guarantor without the parliament’s approval, which was allegedly not obtained.
“The State is acting as the guarantor to the loans taken based on the transactions between GMR and Axis Bank. I believe that is not something permitted under the Finance Act. It is like a blanket sovereign guarantee. We may not be able to classify it as a sovereign guarantee. But we are seeing an assurance given by the State,” Shukoor was quoted as saying by local newspaper Haveeru.
GMR bid qualification
Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of GMR Airports Sidharath Kapur today rejected comments made by President’s Office Spokesperson Masood Imad in Indian media alleging that the company did not originally qualify as a bidder to develop INIA in a technical evaluation process.
Masood was quoted in the Business Today publication as claiming that the technical evaluation committee during the bidding process acted under pressure from former President Mohamed Nasheed, who then qualified the GMR Group for the project.
In response, Kapur said that the company had won the project in an “open and transparent” bidding process, stating that GMR had qualified in the technical, financial and legal evaluations.
Kapur noted that the bidding process was supervised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and that the IFC had successfully handled such public-private partnerships in the airport sector in many countries.
“While other bidders opted for the ‘earn and pay’ route, the GMR consortium adopted a ‘pay and earn’ strategy, and hence paid $78 million up front to the Government of Maldives,” he added.
Kapur also attacked the present government’s handling of the GMR issue, alleging that the resulting arbitration case to decide on compensation owed to the company from the contract cancellation could have serious financial ramifications for the nation.
“Compensation believed owed to GMR due to the illegitimate cancellation of the contract by the government of Maldives may put a significant and avoidable financial burden on the people of Maldives,” he stressed to Business Today.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM) Mohamed ‘Mondhu’ Asif has said that yesterday’s decision (December 19) to cease transmission of the live show ‘Thafaas’ was not politically motivated.
Speaking to Minivan News Today, Asif dismissed allegations circulating on social media alleging that the programme was halted following a direct order from Dr President Mohamed Waheed Hassan, claiming the decision was taken over a violation of “editorial policy”.
“I can confirm you that no order was sent from either President Waheed or any governmental authority. We are now an independent television station as under the Maldives Broadcasting Corporation Act,” he said.
Asif admitted that the programme had been halted during a live telecast, but claimed the decision was made over concerns that the show’s content had violated the station’s editorial policy.
“We had done that previously as well. As a principle, in a live television programme, if [the show’s content] violates the editorial policy set out by the company, we would usually halt the telecast of that programme,” he explained.
Asked if any action may be taken against members of staff over the issue, Asif explained that TVM had only decided to halt the yesterday’s live broadcast at present. He added that TVM management would need to assess in future how guests were briefed over what they could and could not speak about on the state broadcaster.
During the terminated broadcast, Feydhoo constituency MP Alhan Fahmy and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) council member and a local lawyer Ibrahim ‘Wadde’ Waheed had been invited to reportedly discuss current parliamentary issues.
Twitter response
Despite Asif’s claims that the show was taken off air in line with concerns over editorial policy, the host of the ‘Thafaas’ show, Ali Shamin, yesterday used his personal twitter account tweeted to claim – “I’m done with this, it’s all politics,”.
One of the guests, MP Alhan Fahmy responded to the tweet urging Shamin to “make it clear” for the public about what happened.
“[Please] make it clear to the public. [People] need to know what happened! [Don’t] worry about the job,” read MP Fahmy’s twitter response to Shamin’s tweet.
Speaking to Minivan News, Communications and Advocacy Manager of local NGO Transparency Maldives, Aiman Rasheed Ibrahim said that the NGO had noticed that “an incumbent government had always had the opportunity to unduly influence the content of the state media [in the country]”.
Transparency Maldives had previously conducted a media monitoring programme back in 2011.
“Perhaps the new legislation may mean state influence may not be as extreme as was the case prior to the ratification of the legislation, but the ground reality is that an incumbent government has always had the opportunity to unduly influence the content of the state media,” Rasheed suggested.
When contacted by Minivan News today MP Alhan Fahmy said that he was very busy and had already given information about the matter to private broadcaster Raajje TV.
The MBC has been previously involved in a protracted legal battle against former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration over whether the executive – via the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) – or parliament should have responsibility for overseeing state media.
The MNBC was established by Nasheed to run the state media, removing its employees from the jurisdiction of the Civil Service Commission (CSC). In 2010, the then-opposition majority parliament created MBC and demanded the transfer of MNBC’s assets to the new body, which Nasheed’s government refused to do, alleging political partiality on behalf of the MBC board.
Following the controversial transfer of power that saw President Mohamed Waheed Hassan take office in February, MBC was granted control of the state broadcaster. On February 7, the channel – then called MNBC one – was renamed TVM.
Meanwhile, fellow state broadcaster Raajje Radio was re-branded as Voice of Maldives. TVM and Voice of Maldives were used as the names for the two channels during the autocratic 30-year rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
(0)Dislikes(0)A large portion of the national budget had been “managed through the cash flow” of the State Trading Organisation (STO), the Auditor General’s Office has said, revealing the state-owned enterprise is owed MVR 1.45 billion (US$94 million) in overdue bills from government companies and state institutions.
In his professional opinion (Dhivehi) on the proposed 2013 budget submitted to parliament’s Budget Review Committee and made public this week, Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim stated that the “state’s cash flow was being managed through STO”.
“This shows that state expenditure is managed outside of the state budget, that this is an ‘off balance sheet’ finance arrangement and that the actual deficit will be much higher than stated in the state budget,” the Auditor General’s report to parliament stated.
The Auditor General stated that the practice was “worrying” and recommended changes to current treasury management “to put an end to depending on a government-owned company to manage the state’s cash flow.”
STO is a public company with an 81.6 percent stake owned by the government. The company was set up in 1964 to import and supply staple foodstuffs and fuel at controlled prices.
In its report to parliament, the Auditor General’s Office revealed that STO was owed MVR 398 million (US$25.8 million) in overdue payments from state institutions and government companies for goods released on credit.
Of the outstanding amount for items purchased on credit, the Finance Ministry owed MVR 388.1 million (US$25.1 million), according to the findings.
In addition, the Male’ Health Corporation (MHC) owes MVR99.4 million (US$6.4 million), Gan Airport Company owes MVR 61.8 million (US$4 million), Southern Utilities Ltd owes MVR 75.6 million (US$4.9 million), the State Electricity Company (STELCO) owes MVR 53 million (US$3.4 million) and the Works Corporation owes MVR 10.1 million (US$654,993).
Moreover, Fuel Supply Maldives, a subsidiary of STO, was owed MVR 186.2 million (US$12 million) for oil released on credit, mainly from government utility companies, the report added.
As a consequence, STO was owed a total of MVR 1.45 billion (US$94 million) in overdue bills, including outstanding bills worth MVR 289 million (US$18 million) from 2011 and MVR 8.2 million (US$531,776) from 2010 and earlier.
A total of MVR 1.15 billion (US$74 million) is owed to STO from overdue bills in 2012, according to a statement shared by the Finance Ministry showing STO’s receivables.
The government’s health insurance company ‘Aasandha’ meanwhile owed STO MVR 18 million (US$1.1 million) in overdue bills, the report noted.
The figures also showed that state institutions and government companies were “heavily dependent on STO’s working capital” to function.
“And as a result of not receiving millions of rufiyaa owed to STO from the state, STO has not paid any dividends to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury since 2009,” the Auditor General revealed.
In November 2011, the government sold five plots of land measuring 87,155.2 square feet to STO for MVR 522.9 million (US$33.9 million) and deducted the amount from monies owed to STO.
“This was carried out by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury following deliberations by the cabinet and based on the advice of the cabinet,” the Auditor General noted.
The Auditor General contended that the sale was in violation of amendments brought to the Public Finance Act in 2010, which stipulated that state assets and property must be sold in accordance with a law passed by parliament.
The plots were sold to STO in the absence of a law governing the sale of state properties.
“Therefore, we note that it is important to further investigate how this transpired and that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury’s plans to settle payments owed to STO from the government must be clarified before the budget is passed,” the Auditor General recommended.
(0)Dislikes(0)Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Parliamentary Group Leader Abdulla Yameen has said in local media that any damage to relations between India and the Maldives is the result of the actions of the National Movement.
During an interview with private broadcaster DhiTV on Tuesday (December 18), Yameen claimed that the airport was not withdrawn from GMR due to the pressure of National Movement, which had strongly opposed the deal.
He added that the decision to void the airport development agreement was made by the coalition government after all parties backed the move, according to the Sun Online news service.
Yamin also alleged that during rallies held by the National Movement, some participants spoke in a tone about GMR and the airport development that might have caused diplomatic issues with India.
According to Sun Online, Yameen was also quoted as claiming that the ongoing protests and rallies being held by the National Movement were unnecessary. He added that the Maldives might have to face difficulties due to the recent activities of the National Movement.
Earlier this week, National Movement steering committee member and Minister of State for Finance Abbas Adil Riza said efforts would be taken to “break up” parliament should its dispute with the Supreme Court continue.
(0)Dislikes(0)UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Alistair Burt is expected to “pressure” the Maldives government to tackle alleged abuses conducted by police during a visit to the country next month.
The UK-based Guardian newspaper reported today that Burt would be asking the government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan about efforts being undertaken to tackle “serious and persistent abuses” alleged to have been carried out by police – claims backed in reports on the country by a number of international NGOs.
These alleged abuses are reported to include: “attacks on opposition MPs, torture and mass detentions of democracy activists,” according to the paper.
President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad and Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed were not responding to calls from Minivan News at the time of press concerning the upcoming UK FCO visit.
However, the government and police authorities in the Maldives have previously questioned findings by a number of international NGOs, accusing their individual authors of acting with bias in favour of former President Nasheed and the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Police probe
Reports of Burt’s visit follow The Guardian reporting earlier this week that senior UK government figures were set to be questioned by politicians over the role of a Scottish police college in training Maldivian officers accused of perpetrating human rights abuses.
Police authorities in the Maldives contacted by Minivan News yesterday played down the abuse allegations raised by a number of NGOs such as Amnesty International, questioning possible bias in the data gathered in their reports.
Just last month, the circumstances behind the arrests of then Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Abdulla Jabir and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor for their alleged possession of alcohol had been labelled “very worrying” by delegates from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
The comments were made following a a three-day mission to the Maldives over alleged human rights abuses.
Philippine Senator Francis Pangilinan from IPU’s Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians said at the time that circumstances surrounding the arrests of Jabir – now an MDP MP – and Ghafoor were concerning and that the delegation found it “difficult” to believe it was not politically-motivated.
Both Jabir and Ghafoor – along with eight others – were arrested on the island of Hodaidhoo in Haa Dhaal Atoll for the alleged possession of alcohol and drugs.
The arrests were made days prior to a vote on whether or not a no confidence motion against President Mohamed Waheed could be voted with a secret ballot.
Transfer of power
Since February’s controversial transfer of power that saw former President Mohamed Nasheed resigning from office follow a mutiny by sections of the country’s police and military – a decision he claimed was made under duress – several NGOs have published reports addressing concerns about police conduct in the Maldives.
Minivan News observed violent clashes between police officers and anti-government protesters directly following the change of government. On February 8, Minivan News journalists witnessed Specialist Operations (SO) officers specifically target certain MDP activists by chasing and beating them.
Anti-government protests have continued on and off throughout 2012 resulting in both local and international media coverage of alleged police brutality, attacks by protesters on police and reporters, numerous arrests and the occasional, almost playful stand-off.
Amidst this backdrop, several NGOs have released reports into alleged rights abuses conducted by police. These reports include findings by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) entitled “From Sunrise to Sunset: Maldives backtracking on democracy” and an Amnesty International publication entitled: “The Other side of Paradise: A Human Rights Crisis in the Maldives”.
FIDH noted in its findings that the government of President Waheed stood accused of a wide range of human right violations, including violent harassment of street protesters, torture and harassment of pro-opposition media as well as legal and physical harassment of the opposition.
“Practices to silence political dissent that had disappeared in the course of Nasheed’s presidency, have once again become prevalent under Mohamed Waheed’s presidency,” said FIDH at the time.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International’s report recommended that the Maldivian government “ensure prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into allegations of violence by officials.”
The NGO also called for the de-politicisation of the police, reform of the judiciary and enhanced training of security forces to meet with international standards of conduct.
Amnesty said that several of its human rights recommendations were reflected in the Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry’s (CNI) report which was released on August 30. The report concluded that President Waheed’s government had come to power legitimately and that there no evidence of any mutiny by the police and military.
Following the report’s publication, two international advisors to the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) – Judicial Advisor Sir Bruce Robertson and Legal Advisor Professor John Packer – criticised what they believed was an “alarming level” of street demonstrating.
“Some would want to call [this] an example of the rights of freedom of expression and assembly. In reality it is rather more bully-boy tactics involving actual and threatened intimidation by a violent mob,” they stated at the time. “This perpetual behaviour is sapping public life and hindering the Maldives’ development as a modern democracy.”
However, the CNI’s findings did nonetheless highlight the need for institutional reform within the country focusing on areas such as law enforcement and the judiciary.
Earlier this month, the Commonwealth announced it would be working with the Maldivian government to push ahead with strengthening and reforming “key public institutions” – issues raised in the CNI report. The Commonwealth also said that it was reiterating calls for “inclusive and credible” presidential elections to be held next year.
Report “bias”
Following the publication of Amnesty’s report in September, Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed criticised Amnesty International for failing to seek comment from the government, accusing it of publishing a one-sided report.
Similar criticisms of the NGO were made by Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz back in April. He expressed disappointed with what he perceived had been Amnesty’s failure to ask the police for its comments before releasing a report based on its findings.
“I don’t see that there has been any investigations done, none of our officers was questioned, interviewed – neither by them nor by the Police Integrity Commission (PIC), nor by the Human Rights Commission (HRCM). I don’t think that’s fair,” said Riyaz.
Amnesty International had previously denied it has taken sides compiling its report on the Maldives.
(0)Dislikes(0)Official Tourism Ministry figures have recorded a 3.7 percent drop in arrivals to the Maldives last month when compared to the same period last year.
It is the first time since May 2012 that monthly arrivals to the country have fallen on a year-on-year basis.
Despite the monthly decline, arrival numbers rose by 2.4 percent between January and November when compared to the same period in 2011.
The official figures indicate that as of November 2012, 866,310 tourists have arrived in the country over the last 11 months. By contrast, 845,732 arrivals were recorded visiting the Maldives between January and November in 2011.
Earlier this year, the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) had set a target of attracting one million visitors to the country by the end of 2012.
According to the latest ministry figures, tourist arrivals during November from Britain fell 13.8 percent to 7,164, while Chinese visitors to the country rose 9.2 percent to 18,450 during the same month. China has accounted for 24.7 percent of all tourist arrivals to the country during the year so far.
Visitors from Germany decreased 13.2 percent to 8,729 in November, while Italian arrivals decreased by 35.9 percent to 3,551 during the same month.
Promotion aims
The MMPRC had this year been allocated a budget of MVR 70 million (US$4.5 million) to conduct marketing activities for the year, almost double last year’s budget of US$2.3 million which saw the country receive 900,000 tourist arrivals.
Following February’s controversial transfer of power, the incoming government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan sought to utilise public relations groups and advertising to try and offset the impact of negative news headlines resulting from the controversial nature of the change in government.
This focus has included agreeing on a US$250,000 (MVR3.8million) advertising deal to promote the country’s tourism industry on the BBC through sponsorship of its weather services, as well as signing a £93,000 per month (US$150,000) contract with public relations group Ruder Finn to try and improve the country’s image internationally.
With these focuses in place, Maldives tourism authorities said back in October that they were confident the country could meet its one million visitor target, despite ongoing “political turmoil” in the Maldives over the last year.
Speaking to local media in the same month, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor said that should the Maldives achieve its aims of attracting one million visitors during 2012, it could be effectively seen as being equivalent to welcoming two million arrivals to the country.
Adheeb claimed this statement was made taking into account the challenges in overcoming the impact of “political turmoil” on the country’s reputation following February’s power transfer.
“We are closing in on that target with a lot of challenges. We are working with major obstacles due to the present crisis in the country,” Adheeb was quoted as saying at the time.
Adheeb and Deputy Tourism Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamal were not responding to calls by Minivan News at the time of press.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested two Bangladeshi nationals in connection with the murder of a fellow expatriate whose body found was found in a building on Chandhanee Magu in Male’ last month.
During a press conference held today, Chief Inspector of Police Mohamed Dhaudh told local media that a Bangladeshi national identified as Moneerul Islam was believed to have been killed by 23-year-old Kamarul Islam, a close personal friend of the deceased who was said to have confessed to the murder.
A 34 year-old relation of the deceased, identified only as Abdulla, has also been arrested in connection to the murder.
Speaking to local media about the investigation, Chief Inspector Dhaudh said that the dead body of Moneerul Islam was discovered last month in the capital with stab wounds to the neck, chest and face.
Authorities told reporters that Moneerul Islam was last seen alive in the company of Kamarul Islam.
According to local media, a police investigation team was also reported to have obtained CCTV footage of the area where the body was discovered that appeared to show Kamarul Islam walking away from the crime scene following the murder.
Dhaudh said that Kamarul has now confessed to the murder and has told police the reason why he had killed Moneerul Islam after allegedly being asked to commit the crime by Abdulla. Kamarul was arrested arrested while at his previous workplace at Dhangethi in Alifu Dhaalu Atoll, police added.
Police have said that Kamarul had confessed to having thrown the weapon he used to kill Moneerul Islam, as well as the clothes he was wearing at the time, into the sea near the T-Jetty area of Male.
Police said that a diving squad has since retrieved the weapon and the clothes.
Local media reported that police had confirmed during their investigations that there were a number of family and money issues between Muneerul Islam and Abdulla, who have been living in the Maldives since 2006.
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