Tag: maldives

India steeply increases aid to Maldives

India has increased its aid budget for the Maldives more than sixfold this year.

According to the budget of India’s Ministry of External Affairs for 2015-16, the country allocated INR 250m (US $4m, MVR 61.6m)  for Maldives last year, but this year the figure will shoot up to INR 1.83bn (US $30m, MVR 450m).

Objectives for the Maldives include setting up a police academy and the construction of a composite training centre in Male’, the budget says.

“A large proportion of the budget of the ministry is allocated towards technical assistance programmes in neighbouring countries and other developing countries,” said the budget.

Countries receiving Indian aid and loans include Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, African countries, Latin American countries and Eurasian countries.

India will be giving INR 6.76bn (US $110m, MVR 1.67bn) to Afghanistan this year, less than last year’s INR7.1bn, as New Delhi seeks to help the war-torn country rebuild.

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Jailed ex-minister Nazim to travel abroad for treatment

Jailed former defense minister Mohamed Nazim has been authorised to travel overseas for medical treatment for a potentially life threatening condition.

He will be allowed to leave the country for a set period of time, a media official from the Maldives Correctional Service said.

However, the jailed politician’s family said they had not yet been told about his permission to leave.

“The family has not been officially informed of the [authorisation] to leave the country. We are working on it,” said Adam Azim, Nazim’s brother.

The family declined to reveal details of Nazim’s medical condition, but said it needs to be monitored and treated.

“We are very concerned. But the government doesn’t seem to feel any urgency at all,” he said.

Nazim was arrested and fired from the cabinet in January after police found a gun during a controversial raid on his home, and in March was handed an 11-year jail sentence for smuggling illegal weapons.

After the midnight police raid in January, officers said they had confiscated a pistol, bullets and a pen drive containing information that Nazim was plotting a coup d’etat and planning to harm the president, police commissioner and tourism minister.

Nazim says the items were planted, and the opposition has been campaigning for his release.

He requested permission to travel overseas three weeks ago after his doctor advised him to undergo some tests unavailable in the Maldives.

Nazim’s lawyers are meanwhile compiling their appeal against his sentence.

“Lawyers are working on the appeal round the clock, listening to recordings, and hoping to file by Thursday or Sunday,” said Azim.

The correctional service said Nazim’s family would need to notify them of which country he plans to travel to so that they can check it is a country approved for Maldivian prisoner visits.

No prison guards will travel with him, but the correctional service and a guardian from the family will come to an agreement under which the guardian will be responsible for the inmate.

The spokesman said that inmates are usually allotted three months for overseas treatment, but that the medical board can extend the period if treatment is taking longer.

Nazim’s family had a monthly visit with him on Monday at Humafushi jail for two hours and reported he was in “high spirits”.

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Amal Clooney and other heavyweights to represent jailed ex President Nasheed

Jailed opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed has unveiled an international legal team including heavyweight human rights lawyers such as Amal Clooney.

Clooney, who has advised the UN and is the wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, is accompanied by Jared Genser, the founder of the renowned campaign group for political prisoners Freedom Now, and Ben Emmerson, former UN rights chief on counter-terrorism and human rights.

Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in jail last month on terrorism charges in a trial heavily criticised by observers including the UN and Amnesty International for its apparent lack of due process.

The former president hopes to increase international pressure on President Abdulla Yameen, who has so far remained silent in the face of the opposition’s daily protests, and calls for dialogue and a presidential pardon.

“I am very pleased to have such an extraordinary team agree to take up my legal defence internationally,” he said in a statement today.

Nasheed said he is determined to “ensure the world understands the injustice of my detention and the broader suffering of the Maldivian people under President Abdulla Yameen.”

President Yameen maintains he has no role in the trial, but called on the international community to respect the Criminal Court’s verdict.

The international team will push for Nasheed’s “freedom from arbitrary detention” through international lobbying and legal mechanisms such as the UN working group on arbitrary detention, the former president’s domestic legal team says.

The working group’s decision on Nasheed’s detention will affect the international community’s policy towards the Maldives, and would inform decisions on possible sanctions, they added.

Genser has represented Nobel Peace Prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi and Liu Xiaobo, while Clooney has counseled political prisoners such as the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko and Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

Emmerson, meanwhile, is currently the British judge on international tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Nasheed on March 19 announced he would not seek an appeal after the Criminal Court failed to release required case documents on time, and said he is now seeking a political solution involving president Yameen.

The High Court still says Nasheed can appeal, claiming judges are authorized to accept late appeals if a “reasonable justification” is given, but Nasheed’s lawyers say Supreme Court has taken away the discretionary powers to judges in a new ruling in January.

Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party describes Nasheed’s conviction as part of a broader government plan to silence dissent, a claim Yameen denies.

Since Nasheed’s conviction, former defence minister Mohamed Nazim has been sentenced to 13 years in jail on smuggling weapons and ruling party MP Ahmed Nazim was yesterday sentenced to 25 years in prison on corruption charges.

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Politicians line up to replace jailed MP

Would-be candidates are already setting out their stalls for the parliamentary by-election in Meemu atoll Dhiggaru after the seat’s previous incumbent was jailed for 25 years yesterday.

Ruling party MP Ahmed Nazim, a former deputy speaker of parliament, was found guilty on Monday of defrauding the state of MVR 1.4 million (US $91,400) and sentenced to 25 years.

Members of both the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) and the opposition have expressed an interest in replacing him in the Majlis (parliament).

Among these are Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) member and Meemu atoll Muli island councillor Ibrahim Zaki, ruling party member and Meemu atoll councilor Moosa Naseer, and Adhaalath Party spokesperson Ali Zahir.

“I have decided to run for Dhihgaru constituency and I will apply as soon as the elections commission gives notice,” said Ali Zahir.

Elections must be held to fill parliamentary vacancies within 60 days under the constitution.

Meanwhile, the MDP has condemned Nazim’s conviction, saying several aspects of the process violated his rights.

“The lower court and the High Court threw out the case. So the state had appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. But instead the Supreme Court ruled on the case,” said MDP MP and spokesperson Imthiyaz Fahmy.

“So literally Nazim did not have a chance to defend himself,” Imthiyaz added.

He noted that former defence minister Mohamed Nazim, accused of plotting to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen, and ex-president Mohamed Nasheed, accused of terrorism over the arrest of a judge, received shorter sentences than Ahmed Nazim.

“[They] were charged with more serious crimes. So I don’t see the fairness in this conviction,” he said.

“It seems that the courts had all ruled in favor of Nazim when he was in favor with the government. But after his spat with [Tourism Minister Ahmed] Adeeb, the courts had turned against him,” Imthiyaz said.

Nazim, an ex-deputy speaker of parliament, was found guilty of defrauding the state by submitting bids on behalf of non-existent companies to supply 15,000 national flags to the now-defunct atolls ministry.

He faces three more outstanding corruption charges.

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Mahloof censured over areca nuts as charges loom

Detained parliamentarian Ahmed Mahloof has been denied family visits over the discovery of areca nuts in his pocket, as police prepare to bring charges against him.

Mahloof’s wife, Nazra Naseem, said police cancelled a family visit planned for Saturday on the discovery of the “illegal” areca nuts.

The most high-profile defector from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Mahloof has been attending Majlis (parliament) because of a rule specifying that detained lawmakers must be brought to sessions.

“MPs have access to things like areca nuts in the Majlis during meal times. I think that if it is unlawful, it is the police’s responsibility to make sure these things are inaccessible to him,” Nazra said.

Police said they had sent charges of disobedience to order against Mahloof to the prosecutor general’s office relating to events at a protest on March 25, but said it would be for state prosecutors to decide whether to proceed with the case.

Mahloof, a close associate of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was expelled from the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) in February after he publicly criticised President Abdulla Yameen and the government.

He is now part of the Alliance against Brutality, an anti-government coalition. He was arrested at an opposition protest on March 25 on suspicion of disobedience to orders after police said he had passed a barricade.

Mahloof has been repeatedly re-detained since then after refusing to accept a conditional release that would require him to stay away from protests for 30 days.

Other opposition figures have suggested that authorities may be planning separate charges against him.

Sheikh Imran Abdulla, head of the religious conservative Adhaalath Party, tweeted that the government was seeking to press terrorism charges against Mahloof.

After his latest court hearing, an altercation took place in which Mahloof’s wife said police pinched her, twisted her arm and tore buttons from her top. Police have denied this.

Nazra has filed complaints with the Human Rights Commission and Police Integrity Commission over the incident on Monday.

Jeehan Mohmood, a member of the Human Rights Commission, confirmed that it was investigating Nazra’s case, while Abdul Aziz Yoosuf, director general of the Police Integrity Commission, told Minivan News the PIC was also looking into the incident.

“My hope is that the independent institutions will look into my case as tomorrow another woman may be treated the same way,” said Nazra.

Separately, the Human Rights Commission is also reviewing 20 cases of protesters who were released from detention on condition they stay away from protests, Jeehan told Minivan News.

Photo of police forcing Mahloof into a police vehicle on April 3, taken by Munshid Mohamed. 

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Maldivian student evacuated from war-torn Yemen

A Maldivian student has been evacuated from Yemen’s capital along with hundreds of Indian nationals fleeing air strikes in an escalating sectarian conflict.

The student was flown from Sana’a to Djibouti yesterday and is now in India’s Mumbai, his family has confirmed. He is to arrive in Maldives tomorrow morning.

The student had gone to Sana’a in December last year to study the Qur’an.

The Foreign Ministry last week said families of two more students had asked to be evacuated.

But deputy minister for foreign affairs Fathimath Inaya told Minivan News the government the other two students, who are safe, had chosen not to leave the country yet.

According to Yemeni media, at least 500 foreign nationals have been evacuated from Sana’a since Thursday. The UN and diplomatic missions pulled their staff out last week.

A Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Yemen for nearly two weeks in an attempt off an insurgency led by Shia Houthi rebels.

The rebels took control of Sana’a earlier this year, forcing Yemeni President Abdabbauh Mansour Hadi to flee the country in February.

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Maldives ‘open for Japanese investment’

Foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said today that the Maldives is open for Japanese investments, as the east Asian country donated MVR 64 million (US $4m) of “disaster reduction equipment”.

“The Maldives is open for Japanese investment. Be it airport development, or tourist resort development, or transportation sector development, the Japanese investors will have the full guarantee that their investment will be fully protected,” Dunya said.

She was speaking at a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today for the signing of the Japanese aid deal.

The foreign ministry had not specified what the equipment consisted of at the time of going to press.

The government said in June last year it was in talks with the Japan Bank to secure a loan of US $200m to help redevelop the country’s main international airport, but this month it said it was looking to the Saudis for the cash.

In her remarks, Dunya expressed appreciation from the Maldives to Japan for nearly four decades of support, which have included providing the sea wall around Malé and constructing primary schools.

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Ruling party MP Nazim jailed for 25 years

The Supreme Court today sentenced ruling party MP Ahmed Nazim, a former close associate of the president, to 25 years in jail on corruption charges, stripping him of his parliamentary seat.

Nazim, an ex-deputy speaker of parliament, was found guilty of defrauding the state of MVR 1.4 million (US $91,400) by submitting bids on behalf of non-existent companies to supply 15,000 national flags to the now-defunct atolls ministry.

The conviction completes Nazim’s fall from grace at a time when the opposition has accused the government of targeting political rivals. Nazim, who helped President Abdulla Yameen found a party in 2008, appears to have fallen out of favour with the government.

The High Court in February 2013 acquitted Nazim on the basis that the witnesses, who had been his employees, were not credible, based on a Supreme Court precedent that testimony by accomplices to a crime is inadmissible .

However, the Supreme Court today unanimously ruled the employees were simply following Nazim’s orders in the scam, which took place in 2004.

Nazim’s downfall will trigger a parliamentary by-election in Meemu atoll Dhiggaru.

There are three more outstanding corruption charges against Nazim, which also involve the use of “paper companies” to win bids for the procurement of 220 harbor lights, sound systems for mosques and an additional 15,000 flags.

The police have previously said Nazim gained US$400,000 in total from the scams.

Police in October withheld the MP’s passport on unrelated charges of blackmail.

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb at that time blamed Nazim for a damning report implicating him in a separate US$6million corruption scandal, and also accused Nazim of defamation following his refusal to support Nazim’s bid to become Speaker of parliament.

Scams

The scams, first flagged in an audit report in 2009, also involved ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives MP ‘Red Wave’ Ahmed Saleem and President Yameen’s half-brother Abdulla Hameed. Their cases are still pending at the High Court.

Saleem was the director of finance at the atolls ministry and Hameed was the minister at the time, while Nazim ran a company called Namira Engineering. Saleem and Hameed are charged with abuse of power and violation of state finance regulations.

During the original trial held at the Criminal Court, the then-employees of Nazim’s Namira Engineering testified under oath that they were instructed by Nazim to bid for the projects – however, the presiding judge concluded from their testimonies that they were responsible for the procurement fraud and therefore dismissed the testimonies against Nazim on all counts.

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

Another company, Needlework Tailors, which submitted the bid, had an employee of Namira sign the documents under the title of general manager, while a fourth company named ‘Seaview Maldives Private Maldives’ did not exist.

Auditors noted that the Seaview bid documents had an exact date error also found in Fast Tailors documents, and said the error was sufficient to prove the same party had prepared both bids.

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

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

Police further alleged that MP Saleem actively assisted from the atoll ministry, while Nazim’s wife Zeenath Abdullah abused her position as a manager of the Bank of Maldives’ Villingili branch to deposit proceeds of the fraudulent conspiracy.

Police said Hameed as minister played a key role in the fraud by handing out bids without public announcements, making advance payments using cheques against the state asset and finance regulations, approving bid documents for unregistered companies and carrying out discriminatory treatment of bid applicants.

A hard disk seized during a raid of Nazim’s office in May 2009 allegedly contained copies of forged documents and bogus letterheads. Police alleged that money was channelled through the scam to Nazim, who then laundered cash through Namira Engineering and unregistered companies.

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Thousands sign petition over resort workers’ pay, conditions

A petition calling for sweeping changes to resort employees’ working conditions and a minimum wage has collected two thousand signatures during its first five days.

The Tourism Employees’ Association of Maldives, which launched the petition, said it had amassed signatures from workers on 17 resorts since last Wednesday.

“Signing for new hopes and rights,” the group said on its Facebook page. “Keep going [with] the great work of humankind.”

The petition demands a minimum monthly wage of US $600 across the sector through an amendment to the Employment Act.

There is currently no minimum wage and the petition says that wage rates have not increased in the sector for 10 years.

The workers are also asking for quotas to require 80 per cent of tourism employees in the country to be Maldivian, which would require big changes in the hiring practices of resorts.

Current laws require 50 per cent of resort employees to be Maldivians, but the rule is not widely enforced. The sector employs some 11,426 Maldivians and 16,342 expatriate workers, meaning that overseas employees constitute 59 per cent, according to preliminary figures for the 2014 census.

TEAM also wants the president to honour a pledge to make shares in resorts available to their rank-and-file employees, a rarity in a country where resorts are generally owned by private companies controlled by a few individuals.

In February 2014 President Abdulla Yameen said that by the end of the year, a number of resorts would be floating a portion of their shares to the public, and urged Maldivian employees to become stakeholders.

The president said that share ownership would be a “lucrative addition to their current income from salary and other perks through employment at these resorts”, according to a press release issued at the time.

Speaking at the opening of the Sun Siyam Iru Fushi resort, Yameen also said the Sun Travel resort group would float up to 40 percent of its shares to employees in the coming years.

However, the pledge of shares for resort employees has not so far become a reality.

The petition also asks for a 12 per cent service charge to be applied and for 99 per cent of that to be distributed “fairly” among tourism employees, as set out in the Employment Act.

TEAM’s supporters are seeking the right to form a union, as set out in the constitution, and the right to protest in resorts, which was banned in 2012 under the Freedom of Assembly Act.

The law says that protests can only be held in resorts and in air and sea ports after a special permit from the police based on the advice of the military, but TEAM cites the constitution’s guarantee of the right to peaceful protest.

Over the past few years, resort workers have occasionally tried to launch protests.

Workers who had been fired from Sheraton’s Maldives luxury resort for demanding union recognition protested near the Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort and Spa in February, according to the website of the International Union Federation.

Carrying banners with slogans such as “Sheraton fully booked — no room for human rights”, the dismissed workers carried out a boat picket around the resort, while employees came to the beach and waved in support.

In February 2013, an employee strike in Vaavu Atoll Alimathaa resort resulted in 27 employees being fired by management.

According to Haveeru, Ahmed Adeeb, the tourism minister, said at the time that protests in resorts would affect tourists both directly and indirectly.

“Such things must not be encouraged by anyone. Especially when it is something banned by law, it must not happen. No one should encourage or give room for such things,” Adeeb said.

Officials from the Tourism Ministry were unavailable for comment at the time of press.

On Thursday, about 50 employees from the international airport in Seenu atoll Gan protested over a new salary structure which they said would result in lower pay than before. They stopped protesting when management agreed to return to the previous wage structure.

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