Tag: maldives

International Anti-Corruption Day to be hosted in atolls

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will hold festivities to mark International Anti-Corruption Day, recognised on December 9 since 2008, in Gaaf Dhaal and Gaaf Alif atolls. These atolls reported the most corruption cases this year.

The UN Convention against Corruption was adopted by the General Assembly in 2003, and entered into force in 2005. This is the first year that International Anti-Corruption Day has been held outside of Male’.

ACC President Hassan Luthfee said the decision to hold the event outside of Male’ intends to fill a deficit.

“We need to go to the public area, particularly on islands, because we haven’t been to these parts of the country,” he said. “A majority of cases were reported from Gaaf Dhaal.”

Transparency Maldives recently reported that the Maldives had improved in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) to rank 134th out of 183 countries and territories world wide, up from the 2010 rating of 143rd.

This year, the Maldives scored 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone. It is still rated as having a higher perceived corruption than regional neighbors including Sri Lanka (86), Bangladesh (120) and India (95).

Project Director of Transparency Maldives, Aiman Rasheed, warned that the ranking could not be compared year-to-year, especially in the Maldives where there were only a three sources used to determine the index (India has six).

“Corruption in the Maldives is grand corruption, unlike neighbouring countries where much of it is petty corruption,” Rasheed said. “In the Maldives there is corruption across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive, all of it interlinked, and a systemic failure of the systems in place to address this. That why we score so low.”

Faced with such endemic and high-level corruption, it was “up to the people of the Maldives to demand better governance”, he said.

Luthfee countered that the Maldives’ ratings show gradual improvement.

“In 2008 the index ranked us at 2.8, then 2.5, then last year was 2.3 and now we’re back to 2.5. India ranked at 95, but we are very far behind that,” he said.

Understanding the scores in context required a wider public understanding of corruption, Luthfee explained. “In this country, people perceive corruption as some powerful people trying to get money from the government,” he said. “But it’s more than that. Things like human trafficking and political stability are part of the picture as well.” He emphasised the human trafficking was a major concern.

Luthfee said the ACC hosted one workshop in the atoll this year for government employees, school staff and children, and the general public. He attributes the atoll’s high report rate to increasing awareness.

“People are more aware of the reporting mechanism, now they blow the whistle whenever they come across [corrupt situations],” he said.

When asked whether the whistle was being blown too frequently for political reasons, Luthfee recommended greater government control.

“I do believe there is a huge problem in this area. The government needs to implement reporting mechanisms for the opposition and for the international arena, because they play a major role in the corruption issue. Things are easily politicised, and a considerable amount of allegations are made for a political purpose,” he observed.

The ACC is currently unable to investigate cases involving international parties, Luthfee explained. Giving the example of foreign bank accounts, he said that without proper resources certain financial-political cases escape the ACC’s domain.

Prosecution procedures are also an obstacle. “Our mandate is just to investigate, and if we feel it has to go to the Prosecutor General (PG) we send it there. But none of the 16 cases we filed this year have been prosecuted. The outcome is zero,” Luthfee said.

The PG’s office told Minivan News it would provide the statistics on the number of cases prosecuted tomorrow.

President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said a lack of judicial follow-up was contributing to the hold up, and added that President Mohamed Nasheed was expected to ask the ACC to expedite cases currently stalled at the PG office. “Cases from the previous and current government need to be addressed,” he said.

Zuhair said many corruption allegations were made with political motives. “Right now you have politicians being accused, the government being accused, and all are seen to be for political gain. These are just empty allegations,” he said.

“Some are following the proper procedures but some are not. Without the procedure you can’t get a court ruling, and until something is resolved the perception is all that matters. Most people accused of corruption are believed to be corrupt, and that is very damaging. There needs to be better discipline among politicians.”

Minivan News asked Luthfee what his top recommendation was for combating corruption in the Maldives.

“We as Muslims have to keep our way of life in a way that complies with Islam. People now are just not following the right path, and they should make a stronger effort in this respect,” he said.

For International Anti-Corruption Day, the ACC will distribute information pamphlets at an awareness forum, and will host several activities for students. Haveeru has also reported that the next Friday prayer sermon will focus on the negative effects of corruption in society.

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Maldives qualifies for semi-finals with 3-1 SAFF win over Bangladesh

The Maldives knocked out top-ranked Bangladesh 3-1 in the SAFF Cup tournament last night, qualifying for the semi-finals alongside Nepal.

The Maldives’ Ahmed Thariq quickly scored in the sixth minute of the match, scoring again in the 17th. Ali Ashfaq scored the country’s third goal in the 70th minute. Bangladesh’s Sahedul Shahed scored in the 29th minute.

Bangladesh retained greater possession but the speedy and precise Maldivians gave them few opportunities to score in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Bangladesh has beaten the Maldives in three previous SAAF match ups, and has lost only once to the small island nation since 1984. The last time Bangladesh defeated the Maldives was during the 2009 final.

After last night’s win, young people on motorbikes circled Male’ hooting and cheering. The result means the Maldives and Nepal now top Group B with five points apiece. Heading into the semifinals, India and Afghanistan lead Group A with four points each.

The Maldives drew the tournament’s two opening matches before finding their feet in last night’s match.

“It was a very difficult win. Bangladesh was a very good side. We had a plan and it worked. They brought a lot of changes and we improved,” said Maldives coach Istvan Urbanyi.

“If we come to a tournament with high expectation, we need to deal with it. We need to score goals and then the confidence comes. It wasn’t a case of poor form, but of confidence. During this game, we had some difficult periods. It’s not easy to win.”

“In Maldives, you have a lot of skillful players. All we need is better facilities. Maybe our players need some experience, go abroad to get the feel to be a professional football player. The other thing is that everybody likes football.”

A home team match-up against India would be difficult, he conceded.

“Every team has a chance to reach the semi-finals. In the last game even, if Pakistan beat Nepal, they had the chance to qualify and Nepal will be out. Sri Lanka has a good team and a good spirit. I was with the Under-23 team in Dhaka and Afghanistan reached the finals. So I’m not surprised with their performance here.”

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International Organisation for Migration admits Maldives in bid to improve worker welfare

The Maldives was yesterday admitted to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in a significant step towards improving the welfare and lifestyle of migrant workers.

The Maldives joined the IOM with thirteen other states during the 2011 IOM Council in Geneva this week, raising total membership to 146 nations from all global regions.

This year’s session also marks IOM’s 60th anniversary. The organisation currently runs 2,900 projects in over 400 field locations. It’s 2010 expenditure exceeded US$1.4 billion.

IOM was established in 1951 as an inter-governmental organisation which supports orderly management, international cooperation, practical solutions and humanitarian assistance among countries addressing migrant issues, particularly those dealing with refugees and internally displaced people.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release that “IOM experts have already begun work with the Maldives Government to help with the better management of migration in the country – especially in the context of the large numbers of migrant workers in the Maldives.”

Minivan News recently reported a steep rise in human trafficking, which was earlier calculated to be the second largest contributor of foreign currency to the Maldives at US$123 million.

In 2010, the United States’ State Department listed the Maldives second on its Tier 2 Watchlist for Human Trafficking, following a report that Bangladeshi workers were being exploited in high numbers by fake companies promising work permits.

This year 308 cases have been reported to police involving expatriates leaving their sponsors, and more than 4000 passports belonging to illegal migrants have been found.

Thirty-five police officers were subsequently trained trained to combat human trafficking, and took part in the workshop ‘Integrated Approach to Combating Trafficking in Persons’, organised by the IOM.

Maldives Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Iruthisham Adam, said IOM membership was an honor for the Maldives.

“The Maldives is in the particular situation of being a Small Island Developing State, until very recently a member of the UN’s Least Developed Country category, which nevertheless is a major destination country for economic migrants.”

Economic migrants primarily from South Asia account for approximately one quarter of the country’s population, she noted.

“The Maldives greatly values the contribution they have made and continue to make to our economy and society,” said Adam. “However, the situation also raises a range of challenges, especially relating to our human, technical and financial capacity to manage such population movements.”

Adam said IOM membership would provide valuable support and expertise to the Maldives as it strives to manage internal and external migration “in a way which fully benefits the migrants themselves and the wider Maldivian society.”

Welcoming the Maldives’ membership, IOM Director General Ambassador William Lacy Swing praised the government for raising awareness of the effects of climate change on Small Island Developing States.

Other new members are Ethiopia, South Sudan, the Holy See, Antigua and Barbuda, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Guyana, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nauru, the Seychelles and Vanuatu.

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Undercover journalists expose UK lobby firm’s influence in Sri Lanka

Executives from UK-based lobby firm and reputation management company Bell Pottinger have been secretly recorded as admitting to writing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s speech to the United Nations last year.

Undercover journalists posing as representatives of the Uzbekistan government approached several such firms to try and determine the influence such lobbyists had in the UK government.

During the meetings, which were secretly recorded, journalists from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism asked Chairman of Bell Pottinger Public Relations David Wilson about the company’s work improving the image of the Sri Lankan government. The executives referred to “dark arts” used to help rebuild the reputations of countries and companies accused of human rights violations.

Sri Lanka has been under international pressure to submit to a war crimes investigation after a UN report published in April found “credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The Maldives has defended Sri Lanka, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem stating that the UN Panel report was “singularly counterproductive”. A report by Sri Lanka’s own ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation’ report has not yet been made public.

Bell Pottinger’s Wilson told the undercover journalists that the “Peace and Reconciliation” commission had a “fundamental flaw” in its remit, in that it was trying “to bury the past”.

“We wrote President Rajapakse s speech to the UN last year which was very well received,” Wilson said, claiming that it was used in preference one prepared by Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry.

In the speech, Rajapakse expresses concerns over the “unacceptable degree of selectivity” of international organisations operating in the developing world, which “ must keep a vigil against these irregular modalities which should be resisted through our collective strength.”

Wilson also told journalists that this speech “went a long way in taking country to where they need to go”, and claimed that Bell Pottinger had added “some critical dialogue at government level” inside the UK, and introduced “some balance outside of a couple of media channels. The Times and Channel 4 are particularly staunch in their opposition.”

Channel 4 had aired video footage purportedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing bound and naked Tamil dissidents in the closing days of the country’s civil war. The authenticity of the footage was challenged by the Sri Lankan government, but described as authentic by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns.

Speaking to the undercover journalists, Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs Tim Collins said that improvements in a country’ s reputation did not need to be fast: “As long as you can see that each year is a little better than before, that’s fine,” he was quoted as saying in the UK’s Independent newspaper.

Uzbekistan, he suggested, should stress its position as an emerging market: “To the Western world it’s a developing market so you can always have the message that: ‘We are changing with the times – we are emerging, learning as a nation and growing’,” Collins said. Such a campaign to improve the country’s image would cost in excess of £100,000 a month, he suggested.

Former President of the Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom also engaged a large public relations firm in a bid to improve the country’s international image.

Speaking to Minivan News in June, former Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed explained how the involvement of PR firm Hill & Knowlton extended as far as writing legislation, and even advocating controversial Constitutional amendments such as freedom of religion.

“When you are in office for 30 years and your ministers and associates make recommendations to you, you don’t believe them,’ Dr Shaheed told Minivan News. “But if you have a posh firm from London making recommendations, you tend to believe them. And Gayoom did.

“Things that Gayoom did on their recommendation included separating the army from the police, a whole raft of reforms on judicial function, prison reform, constitutional reform – all these things were done at their request. The only H&K recommendations he left out – Hill & Knowlton wanted Yameen and the then Police Chief (Adam Zahir) sacked, and they also suggested that freedom of religion was something that was internationally demanded.

“Of course, there’s no way any government here can introduce freedom of religion, and H&K’s usefulness ended when they recommended Yameen be removed – at that point Gayoom stopped listening to them.

“H&K had a contract signed in April 2005, and their proposals were presented as a package. Their engagement was always positive and there was nothing covered up, and they came here only after speaking to the UK Foreign Office and US State Department. Of course, they are a commercial company and had their fees.”

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Gang stabs 27 year-old man

A 27 year-old man is recovering in hospital after being stabbed in a gang attack in Male’ last night.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told newspaper Haveeru that the man suffered several wounds to different parts of his body.

Haveeru reported ADK hospital as stating that the man was stabbed three times in the back and his chest.

The ADK Hospital also told the paper that his face was hit by an object and injured.

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Attorney General accuses Gahdhoo Court of misleading the public

The Attorney General’s Office has accused Gahdhoo Island Court of misleading the public, after the Court summoned the AG and threatened to hold him in contempt of court if he failed to appear.

The judge had requested the AG’s Office send a representative to appear in an ongoing trial of a case concerning the government.

In a statement, the AG’s Office said that the case Gahdhoo Island Court was referring to was a suit related to the Pension Administration Office, which had its own legal authority to both file suits and respond to legal summons. The government was not required to send representatives from the AG’s Office, it said.

The AG’s Office further claimed said that the Gahdhoo Island Court had not examined the suit in as much detail as it was obliged to do legally, and had mistakenly registered the suit as against the government rather than the Pension Administration Office.

According to the statement, the AG Office had not received any summons chit from the court besides the one sent yesterday, and that there was no reason for the Prosecutor General to take action against the AG.

The AG Office accused Gahdhoo Island Court of phoning media outlets and telling them that the Attorney General was in contempt of court.

Gahdhoo Island Court yesterday sent a summons chit to Attorney General Abdulla Muiz, requesting he produce himself to the island court.

According to the local media, the Gahdhoo Court Judge decided to summon Muiz after the AG’s Office did not send a representative from the AG in a case involving the office.

The judge claimed that the AG was guilty of contempt of court and requested the Prosecutor General to take action against him, and said that no exemption would be made if Muiz defied the summons.

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Adhaalath members on Vaikaradhu protest arrival of President

Four islanders from Vaikaradhu in Haa Dhaalu Atoll yesterday protested the arrival of the President for an official visit.

Chair of Vaikaradhoo Council Ahmed Waheed told Minivan News that the protesters were members of the Adhaalath Party.

”They are four members of Adhaalath Party branch in this island,” Waheed said. ”They were holding banners and raising their voice against the government, and saying they would not support a government that supports Israel.”

”They were on the harbour when the President arrived,” he said. ”They were standing quite close to the president, but the president did not do or say anything.”

Council member Abdulla Shareef told Minivan News that the few people gathered to express disapproval were senior officials of the Adhaalath Wing on the island.

”There are not many supporters of Adhaalath Party on this island, and even in their party there were some people that did not want to join that protest yesterday,” he said.

President of Adhaalath’s Vaikaradhoo Branch Ahmed Shareef told Minivan News that the gathering was not organised by the Adhaalath Party.

”The Adhaalath Party did not organise the gathering,” Shareef said. ”We requested the council give us permission to put up two banners, one about the massive protest on December 23 and the other banner calling for the Maldives to be cleaned of idols.”

He said the banners were put up with the permission for the President’s arrival.

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Parliament schedules decision to reappoint Islamic Minister

Parliament has scheduled the decision on whether to reappoint Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari for the 19th of this month.

Bari was appointed to the position on October 9 by parliament for the third time. The last time he resigned following a request made by the Adhaalath Party after it severed its coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Dr Bari was first appointed to the government under the coalition agreement.

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Gahdhoo Island Court orders AG to appear

Gahdhoo Court on the island of Gahdhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll sent a summons chit to Attorney General Abdulla Muiz, requesting that he produce himself to the island court.

According to the local media, the Gahdhoo Court Judge decided to summon Muiz after the AG’s Office did not send a representative from the AG in a case involving the office.

The judge claimed that AG Muiz was been guilty of contempt of court and requested the Prosecutor General to take action against him, and said that no exemption would be made if Muiz defied the summons.

The court has the authority sentence a person to up to three months for contempt of court.

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