Tag: maldives

High Court concludes hearings of Deputy Speaker Nazim’s case ahead of final verdict

The High Court today concluded hearing witness statements in the state’s appeal of Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim acquittal by the Criminal Court on charges of corruption, ahead of delivering a final verdict at a later date.

Nazim stands accused of receiving more than US$400,000 through fraudulent transactions made by a company he was found to own.

At today’s hearing, the prosecution lawyer noted that the Criminal Court had previously dismissed the testimonies of witnesses submitted by the state against Nazim. The High Court would now decide on whether to take the witness statements into account before a final verdict on the case is delivered.

The Criminal Court ruled in February last year that the witnesses submitted to the court were all staffs at a company called NAMIRA, which is owned by Nazim and at the centre of the alleged corruption.  The court concluded at the time that staff involved in the alleged fraud could not be presented as witnesses and dismissed their statements.

At today’s hearing, the prosecution lawyer was reported as stating to the court that it was apparent that staff at NAMIRA had not benefited at all from the alleged corruption. The lawyer argued that they therefore would not have had any involvement in the case had they not been asked by Nazim himself.

Before concluding today’s hearing, the presiding judge announced that unless the court required clarification on any further details of the trial, a verdict on the case would be delivered during the next hearing.

Deputy Speaker Nazim was not responding to calls at time of press.

In late 2009, Nazim was charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the former Atolls Ministry.

However, in February 2012, the Criminal Court dismissed the case against Nazim and ruled that there were no grounds to prosecute him.

The alleged corruption at the centre of the trial – first flagged in an audit report released in early 2009 – involved paper companies allegedly set up by the defendant to win bids for projects worth several hundred thousands dollars.

The case began in late 2009, after police uncovered evidence that implicated Nazim in a number of fraudulent transactions.

At a press conference in August 2009, Chief Inspector Ismail Atheef said police had uncovered evidence that implicated Nazim in fraudulent transactions worth over US$260,000 (Mrf 3,446,950).

Police exhibited numerous quotations, agreements, tender documents, receipts, bank statements and forged cheques proving that Nazim received over US$400,000 in the case.

A hard disk seized during a raid of Nazim’s office in May 2009, allegedly contained copies of forged documents and bogus letter heads.

Police further alleged that MP ‘Red Wave’ Saleem actively assisted from the atoll ministry. Meanwhile, Nazim’s wife, Zeenath Abdullah, was accused of abusing her position as a manager of the Bank of Maldives’ Villingili branch to deposit proceeds from the scheme.

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Sheikh Fareed purchases media company

Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed has acquired a license to broadcast a religious TV channel under the name ITV after purchasing a local company called Intone Media Private Limited, local media has reported.

Sun Online today reported that Fareed was already in the process of trying to begin broadcasting under the channel.

Fareed has been accused of defrauding the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM), an NGO which he co-founded, by the foundation’s President Ibrahim Fauzee. He was subsequently dismissed from his position as Vice President of the Religious Council of IFM.

Fareed later filed a defamation case against Fauzee seeking a payment of more than MVR 3 million (US$195,000) and a public apology within local media for three consecutive days.

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Kaspersky rates Maldives 16th on online attack threat list

Internet security firm Kaspersky has ranked the Maldives 16th in a list of countries where the highest percentage of its customer base face online attacks, placing it between Ukraine and Moldova.

The Bloomberg news agency has reported that the list found 47 percent of Kaspersky’s customers in the Maldives had come under attack from cyber criminals during 2012.

Based on internet world statistics, around 34 percent of the Maldives population – an estimated 134,860 people – were online last year, the report added.

Despite ongoing concerns about the growing threat of potential cyber crime in the Maldives, Kaspersky concluded that neighbouring countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh faced even more prevalent online threats, placing them in 9th, 8th and 7th on the list respectively.

At the top of list was Russia, with Kaspersky – founded in the country – concluding that 59 percent of its customers in the nation had faced online assaults in 2012.

At the other end of the list, Spain and the US were placed at 20th and 19th place respectively.

In December last year, the Maldives Police Service (MPS) announced it had received 61 reports of suspected cyber crime in 2012 – a second consecutive annual increase in such offences since 2010.

Meanwhile, in September 2012, the MPS announced it would be forming a special Cyber Policing Department.

Police stated at the time that three units will be operating under the new department, including the cyber crime investigation unit, cyber forensics unit and cyber security unit.

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Council will respect sister-city agreement with Taiwanese city of Kaosiung: Mayor Manik

Male City Council Mayor Ali Manik has said the council will respect its sister-city agreement with Kaosiung City in Taiwan, despite the government’s denouncement of the move.

Following the signing of the agreement in Male’ on June 9 with a delegation from Kaosiung, the Maldives’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement reaffirming its “commitment and support to China’s national unity and to the one-China Policy.”

“The Maldives’ firm conviction of one-China policy is guided by the principles of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of states and considers Taiwan as an integral part of the People’s Republic of China,” the government stated.

“This is an agreement between cities, not countries,” said Mayor Manik. “Our constitution does not say anything about not being able to make such agreements.”

“The attorney general has said we need to get permission from the president. This is not true. We don’t have to get permission. That is not in the constitution,” he added.

Following the signing of the sister-city agreement and the delegations inspection of Male, Manik said Kaosiung would report on the kind of assistance the city would be able to provide, such as technical assistance with waste management, roads, infrastructure, education and training.

“We ask the government not to obstruct us from doing something that is for the benefit of Male. [The agreement] is not illegal,” Manik said.

The agreement came about after the council met Kaosiung officials, including the Deputy Mayor, during a local councils conference held in Hyderabad in India last year.

That led to an invitation for a delegation from Male’ City Council to visit Kaosiung in November 2012, for which the host city provided tickets and accommodation, Manik said.

Male City Council is dominated by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the leader of which contends he was ousted in a coup on February 7 2012 by current President Mohamed Waheed. The bitter political polarisation has put the council at loggerheads with the Maldivian government for more than a year.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has meanwhile disputed allegations that the Maldivian government’s decision to reject the agreement was made under Chinese pressure.

During a MOFA press conference reported by the China Post, spokesperson Anna Kao noted that Taiwanese cities had established sister-city ties with cities around the world without incident, and suggested that politics should not interfere with such exchanges.

“We urge the Maldivian government to respect its cities’ efforts to advance ties and business and people-to-people exchanges with Taiwanese cities,” said Kao.

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Police arrest five people during protest over 75 laari increase in Hulhumale’ bus fares

Police have confirmed that a total of five people were arrested during a protest on Hulhumale’ yesterday (June 14), held to raise concerns over an increase in the price of bus fares on the island.

Three males, one female and a minor remain in custody today after they were charged with offences including failing to obey instructions and breaking past police lines during the demonstration. Demonstrators reportedly highlighted a number of concerns, including a decision to raise the cost of tickets on the Hulhumale’ bus service from MVR 2.25 (US$0.15) to MVR 3 (US$0.19).

The protest, which began at 3:00pm yesterday afternoon and ended roughly three hours later, coincided with efforts by the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) to introduce new larger buses on the island, Sun Online reported.

Ismail Fariq, an executive for MTCC’s Transport Department said today that the new buses represented an MVR 8.6 million (US$558,000) investment by the company in an effort to provide a “total improvement” in service for passengers by offering air conditioning and more seating.

“The existing buses that we have been using are almost broken down, but these new buses we hope will offer a new benchmark in public transportation services,” he said.

With the new buses coming into service yesterday, Fariq said that passengers would be able to use the buses for free until tomorrow, when the new MVR 3 fare would be implemented.

He said the increased fare was essential to cover the company’s investment in the new vehicles.

“This increase in quality comes with the change in price,” Fariq argued. “As a business we need a reasonable return on investment and I do not believe that 75 laari is a big change for these improvements.

Demonstrators opposed to the increase nonetheless yesterday gathered in the area of Hulhumale’ where the new bus service was scheduled to be introduced to voice their concerns. They also demanded improvements to the ferry boat service presently operating between Hulhumale’ and the capital, according to local media.

Improvements to the ferry service were a much more pressing consumer issue than the provision of air conditioned buses in Hulhumale’, the protesters said according to Sun Online.  The criticisms were first made after the state-owned MTCC purchased four new vehicles last month.

The company was quoted in local media at the time as claiming the news vehicles would allow it to increase the capacity of daily bus passengers on Hulhumale’ from 8,000 to 10,000 people, as well as expanding the number of services it offered on the island.

In January this year the MTCC announced it would begin charging a six percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all ferry and bus services that it operates as required by the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

The cost of a ticket for a single journey on the Hulhumale’ bus was as a result increased to MVR 2.12 at the time.

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Criminal Court 15-day recess to begin tomorrow

The Maldives Criminal Court will begin a scheduled 15-day recess tomorrow (June 16), during which no trials are expected to be conducted, according to local media.

Haveeru has reported that while the court will continue to perform administrative duties and rule on custody extensions during this period, no trials will be conducted except for emergency cases.

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US interest in Maldives affects Sri Lanka: Daily Mirror

Sri Lankan  Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has warned that any establishment of a base by the United States in the Maldives could change the complexion of the sub-continent region by aligning it more with India, reports the Daily Mirror.

The Defence Secretary pointed out that it was essential to further strengthen the existing cordial relationships with powerful nations such as China and Russia, which have permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council and could influence any international action on Sri Lanka more significantly than other nations.

“Issues between India and Pakistan, and the issues between India and China are particularly sensitive in this regard. With the rise of China as a world economic leader, there is a widespread belief that India feels insecure and is seeking to align itself with the other powers that seem similarly threatened by China’s ascendancy,” he added.

Mr Rajapaksa said although the likelihood of events such as the Arab Spring transpiring in Sri Lanka is minimal as a result of it being a democratic nation with an extremely popular political leadership that enjoys a very large electoral majority, the possible trend needs to be monitored.

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Judiciary the Maldives’ weakest link: Eurasia Review

The judiciary continues to be the weakest link in Maldives in its march towards democracy, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

Except for the opposition MDP, no other political party appears to be concerned by the poor performance of the judiciary. What is more, the judicial commission, which is supposed to be the “watch dog” over functioning of the judiciary, appears to be highly politicised.

The rot started with the judicial commission allowing incompetent judges with inadequate qualifications to continue under the new constitution and the judicial commission itself is packed with representatives who had and continue to have political leanings.

On 28th of May, the Deputy leader of Jumhooree party Dr. Hussein Rasheed Hassan in one of the public meetings, defined ‘good governance’ as one where there is absolute rule of law, sound and professional, financial and political management, accountable, effective and transparent public institutions and in public spending.

But what Dr. Hassan failed to mention was that for good governance one needs a competent and independent judiciary packed with people of absolute integrity. Hassan’s own chief Gasim Ibrahim is a member of the judicial commission and is also an aspiring presidential candidate. It is no surprise therefore that there are allegations that some of the decisions of the Judicial Commission are “politically motivated”.

The case of suspension of the Chief Judge of High Court Ahmed Shareef by the Judicial Service Commission as a “precautionary” measure long after the supposed act, is yet another case and this only confirms that the rot that has set in the judicial system of the country cannot easily be eradicated.

The suspended High Court Chief Judge Ahmed Shareef filed a case challenging the suspension handed over to him by the JSC and sought an injunction. In the civil case filed, the Judge’s lawyer Husnu Suood, a former Attorney General in Nasheed’s regime has cited procedural irregularities including the presence at the meeting of the Judicial commission of a dishonoured Civil service Commission (CSC) President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan and the newly appointed Attorney General Aisahath Bisham whose appointment was yet to receive the approval of the parliament.

The High Court Judge who has been suspended had done his duty in temporarily halting of the hearings of the court against former President Nasheed who had accused the judicial Commission in exceeding its mandate in appointing the three member judges panel to the Hulumale Magistrate court that is hearing his case.

In a press conference the lawyer of Nasheed accused of the Commission of political motives behind the decision to suspend the Judge. The decision could also be perceived as a way to prevent a further delay of the case file by Nasheed.

In the same press conference, Suood further claimed that the presidential candidate of PPM, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the deputy speaker of Parliament and PPM MP Ahmed Nazim and reitred Supreme Court Judge Mujthaz Fahmy have long been in the business of influencing the judges and the verdicts they had been issuing.

Suood made an open accusation in the presence of the press corps that the “entire judiciary is under the influence of retired Judge Mujthaaz Fahmy. In a bid to serve the interests of two politicians ( he had named openly) the JSC was planning to juggle judges from court to court and even planned to give salary increments to certain judges.

Another instance cited by the amnesty international was the selective fast tracking of cases against the supporters of the opposition MDP. It alleged that throughout the year the authorities are said to have had “political bias” in fast tracking the procedure in the prosecution of opposition supporters accused of criminal behaviour during rallies while failing to prosecute the police and other suspected of committing human rights abuses during the same protests.

There is a fear and a justified one that some of the vested interests of present regime and its “behind the scene supporters” may ensure that the “judicial process is used to prevent former president Nasheed from contesting. This needs to be watched.

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No satellite communications, no rescue tug, contaminated fuel: the final voyage of the MV Asian Express

A Maldivian cargo ship that sunk of the coast of Kochi was on its final voyage, reports Indian media.

The 35 year-old Lily Enterprises vessel, MV Asian Express, was travelling from Port Md Bin Qasim in Karachi to Male when it encountered engine trouble, reportedly after being fuelled with contaminated oil.

“Captain Ahmed Shakir told coast guard officials that the fuel filled from Port Bin Qasim could have been contaminated, which caused the vessel’s turbocharger to pack up, resulting in engine shutdown,” reported Indian newspaper The Hindu.

“For two days we were in deep trouble,” Captain Ahmed Shakir told the Indian Express. As per the original schedule, we were supposed to reach Maldives by June 10,” Shakir said.

“Adding to his troubles was the two-to-three-metre vertical crack on the starboard side of the ship below waterline and failure of the communication system,” reported the Deccan Chronicle.

According to marine tracking reports, the Indian Coast Guard ship Varuna arrived to assist but was forced to abandon attempts to fix the engines because of rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, with wind gusting at up to 50 kilometres an hour.

Commanding officer of the CGS Varuna, K M Arun Kumar, told the Hindu the rescue effort was also hampered by heavy swell and poor visibility.

“To top it all, Asian Express had no satellite phone and a message was relayed to it through a nearby vessel, MV Golden Shui, before we reached the area,” Kumar told the paper.

“The vessel’s agent, in the meantime, informed that tug Villa-2 which had been asked to tow the vessel to safety had not yet started from Male. In any case, the tug would not have reached the site before the morning of July 14. Meanwhile, the master informed us that the three hatches of the ship were flooded up to 10 metres after a wide crack on its starboard side.

“Soon, he said they would be abandoning the vessel and was instructed to use the life boats. However, the two lifeboats were non-operational and had to be pulled manually, even as the drifting vessel and the heavy swell posed a real danger to Varuna itself. It was already dark when every crewmember of the vessel in distress was taken on board Varuna and given food and medicines.”

Instead the coast guard evacuated all 22 crew members, including 18 Maldivians and four Indian nationals and transferred them to Kochi.

Its crew rescued, the vessel sank with its cargo of 4000 tons of cement and 2400 tons of sand.

The MV Asian Express was carrying aggregate imported from Pakistan, after a shortage began impacting the Maldives’ construction industry.

Aggregate was previously imported to the Maldives from India under a special quota, however this was temporarily revoked on February 15 amid a breakdown in the country’s relationship over the government’s eviction of Indian infrastructure giant GMR and ongoing mistreatment of Indian nationals working in the country.

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