Tag: MDP

PPM undecided over leaving government despite “concerns” with President Waheed

The government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has said no formal decision has yet been taken on whether to retract support for the government, despite growing “complaints” from its members over the conduct of President Dr Mohamed Waheed.

MP Ahmed Nihan today told Minivan News that both the PPM’s senior leadership and ordinary members held significant “concerns” over the conduct of President Waheed in the build up to this year’s presidential election, with the party accusing the incumbent and his supporters of unfair campaigning.

The PPM is the largest party in terms of MP numbers serving within the coalition government backing President Waheed, which came to power following the controversial transfer of power on February 7, 2012.

Despite this ongoing support, PPM vice presidential candidate and former Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed yesterday (July 14) accused President Waheed in local media of providing harbours to islands on the provision that their councils signed with his Gaumee Ihthihaadh Party (GIP).

The allegations were today rubbished by the President’s Office, which claimed that projects such as harbour developments had been allocated by the government last year and were not related in any way to the GIP or its campaign.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad contended that President Waheed would had no say on the placing of harbours earmarked for development before electioneering had begun, adding that the GIP had the least influence within the current government to influence such projects.

While not having personally seen the allegations raised by Dr Jameel, Masood criticised what he claimed was a culture of politicians “saying anything they want” to try and damage political rivals. He added that politicians attempting to attack political rivals without facts or evidence were in danger of disgracing their own parties in the long-term.

“National interest”

Dr Jameel was quoted in local media criticising President Waheed for dismissing him as home minister earlier this year and sacking other PPM supporters from key government posts, which he said reflected a failure of the incumbent to favour “national interest”.

He additionally pointed to recent concerns raised by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over allegations the GIP had fraudulently registered party members in a bid to reach minimum membership.

The ACC said last month after interviewing 100 members of the GIP that 85 percent of those polled had no knowledge of ever joining the party.

Dr Jameel also compared Dr Waheed’s principles – in an unspecified manner – to those of his predecessor former President Mohamed Nasheed, who is himself standing in the election as candidate for the opposition Maldivan Democratic Party (MDP).

The MDP is the country’s largest political party both in terms of numbers of MPs and registered support.

However, Dr Jameel was quoted in local media as dismissing Nasheed’s chances in the upcoming election, claiming he had been “discarded by the people” and had become a “joke” with his attempts to strengthen democracy in the country.

“I don’t believe President Nasheed even has a chance. Also I don’t see a reason he should even be given that chance,” he was reported to have said by newspaper Haveeru.

Dr Jameel was not responding to calls at time of press.

Incentive allegations

PPM MP Nihan said that alongside allegations that the president had been promising harbours to local councils to garner electoral support, the party had also received complaints that senior positions in government companies were also being offered to secure ballots ahead of September’s vote.

“Besides the harbours, there are attempts to try and influence voters. Maybe this is not the work of the president, but there may be strong people belonging to the GIP behind this,” he said.

Nihan said no decision had yet been taken over whether to formally review the PPM’s support of the present coalition government “in the near future”.

However, with the presidential election scheduled just over a month away on September 7, he did not rule out possible the potential for talks on the matter.

“Unofficial” Adhaalath talks

The PPM has also confirmed this week that it had held informal talks over potentially standing in a coalition with the religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) for the election after retracting its support for President Waheed. Nihan said there had been no further progress on reaching an agreement.

He claimed that a PPM Council meeting held yesterday evening had not included discussions on forming a coalition “with any party” on its agenda. Nihan said the PPM  was presently involved in “unofficial negotiations” with AP “senior leadership”.

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Politicians trivialising severity of economic problems, foreign investment: Chamber of Commerce

The Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MNCCI) has accused senior politicians of trivialising the severity of the country’s economic problems, claiming parties are addressing financial concerns with negative slogans rather than actual policies.

The concerns were raised as the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) claimed over the past week that foreign investors were now turning away from the Maldives due to concerns about political stability and safety in the country.

“Bad shape”

While accepting the present “bad shape” of the Maldives economy, the chamber of commerce criticised negative campaigning on the economy by senior figures in the last two governments – arguing they had done little to address an ongoing shortage of US dollars and a lack of investment banking opportunities and arbitration legislation in the country.

On Saturday (June 29), PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen was quoted in local media as expressing concern that foreign businesses were shunning the Maldives in favour of financing projects in other countries in the region.

“With our present woes no one wants to invest here. They are looking at Seychelles and Caracas. No foreign investor wants to come to the Maldives,” Haveeru reported him as saying.

The concerns were shared by Yameen’s running mate, former Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, who told a campaign rally in Raa Atoll days earlier that the PPM was the only party able to secure peace and safety in the country required to boost foreign investor confidence.

Dr Jameel was dismissed as home minister by President Dr Mohamed Waheed in May this year after announcing his decision to stand as running mate for rival candidate Abdulla Yameen in September’s election.

Minivan News was awaiting a response from Dr Jameel about the party’s economic policies at time of press.

While MNCCI Vice President Ishmael Asif accepted that political stability was a key challenge to building foreign investor confidence, he added that senior political figures such as Dr Jameel had failed to implement much needed legislative reforms to aid investment while in power.

Asif argued that Dr Jameel was not the only government figure in the last five years guilty of failing to try and boost investor confidence in the Maldives.

“We are not happy. People are using the economy as a campaign slogan. All parties are looking to come to power and they will do or say anything to be in power,” he said.

Asif expressed particular concern over various parties’ using the country’s present economic difficulties to score points during campaigning without offering their own solutions.

“The economy is not healthy right now. We do not hear any solutions from these people. We want to hear positives about will they change,” Asif said.

“What exactly did Jameel do for the economy? What did Anni [former President Mohamed Nasheed] do? What also did Dr Waheed do? What did any of them do?”

Economic record

Asif argued that ahead of the upcoming presidential election scheduled for September, it was hugely important that voters evaluated all candidates on the basis of their recent economic record.

He said that the Maldives’ first multi-party democratic election in 2008, the country had failed to implement a number of legislative reforms required to provide greater freedom to foreign investors.

According to Asif, key economic reforms lacking included the establishment of investment banks to encourage foreign parties to borrow domestically, and arbitration law to ensure that investments were protected in the country’s courts.

He said that with rival parties and President Waheed all campaigning ahead of this year’s election, there appeared to be little consensus to try and deal with “huge issues” such as the dollar shortage.

Accountability

Asif said he believed that the majority of voters had failed to properly hold their leaders to account since the democratic transition in 2008, comparing the nation’s democratic freedoms over the last five years as being comparable to “a child with a new toy”.

“We have not really understood democracy here. Many have not grown up with the right to question that comes with democracy, so we don’t know how to test the capacity of our leaders,” he said.

Raising concerns that the loudest and most controversial figures had dominated the country’s political arena since 2008, Asif said fears of a lack of accountability were a significant difficulty for the economy.

“Take the Ministry of Trade for example. There is a huge issue over the supply of US dollars, yet instead everyone is focused on their own parties. There is no mandate to address this,” he said.

Opposition concerns

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) meanwhile rejected criticisms over its foreign investment record, claiming it had attempted to introduce a raft of economic reforms for the economy while in power, before the government was controversially changed on February 7, 2012.

The present government, made up entirely of former opposition parties, came to power after former President Mohamed Nasheed resigned from office during a mutiny by sections of the police and military.

MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said that it was hypocritical for the PPM, or any other party serving in the present government, to raise concerns about political stability, given that they had intentionally deposed the country’s first democratically-elected government.

On an economic level, Ghafoor claimed the former MDP government had sought to introduce an economic reform package aimed at encouraging investment not only in the country’s tourism industry, but in a wider number of sectors such as energy, communications and infrastructure.

He said that this investment focus had been seen in the introduction by the former administration of direct taxation, the restructuring of government finances and the reduction or elimination of import duties on a wide range of goods.

Before Nasheed came to power, Ghafoor said the country had been managed much like a “corner shop” – with no mechanisms to attract and keep investors in the country.

He argued that one legacy of this approach to foreign investment could be still be seen in the country’s courts, which he continued to remain a “mess”.

Judicial criticisms

Before his resignation, former President Nasheed controversially detained the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed, in a move he claimed was needed to prevent him from continuing to rule on cases while charges of misconduct against him were investigated.

In November 2011, the Civil Court ordered the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to take no action against the chief judge over an investigation into his alleged misconduct until the country’s court reached a verdict in a case filed against him. The Civil Court case preventing action against Abdulla Mohamed was filed by the chief judge himself.

In the build up to the judge’s arrest, Nasheed continued to raise concerns over allegations of perjury and “increasingly blatant collusion” between senior judicial figures and politicians loyal to the former autocratic President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Since Nasheed’s resignation, NGOs and independent experts including UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul have expressed concern over politicisation within the country’s court system.

Accusing the PPM – as part of the present coalition government –  of being directly involved in instigating a mutiny within the country’s security forces prior to the change of government last year, MDP MP Ghafoor alleged the party was also culpable for ruining interest in foreign investment.

He accused PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen in particular of using President Waheed as a “pawn” last November to abruptly terminate a US$511 million contract with India-based GMR to develop and manage Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

Indian infrastructure giant GMR recently filed a claim for US$1.4 billion in compensation from the Maldives, following the government’s sudden termination of its concession agreement citing  “wrongful termination” and loss of projected profits.

Meanwhile, the PPM accused President Waheed of ignoring the advice of his coalition government by terminating the agreement.

Waheed’s allies hit back by accusing the PPM of making “contradictory statements” regarding the decision to terminate GMR’s concession agreement, claiming the party’s senior leadership tried to terminate the deal without discussion or following due process.

The MNCCI claimed in September last year that legal wrangling between the government and India-based developer GMR over the multi-million dollar airport development contract was not anticipated to harm confidence in the country’s “challenging” investment climate.

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Gasim calls for public vigilance over political parties trying to buy MPs

Government-aligned Jumhoree Party (JP) Leader Gasim Ibrahim has accused other political parties of attempting to bribe MPs to jump parties, and boost support for their policies.

Speaking at a rally on the island of Gahdhoo in Gaaf Dhaal Atoll on Friday (June 28), MP and local business tycoon Gasim asked the public to be vigilant against what he alleged were efforts by political parties to “buy” the country.

Gasim noted with particular concern that large sums of money were being paid to MPs by unidentified political parties looking to boost their parliamentary representation and support their respective agendas.

“We hear members change parties for US$2 million,” he was quoted as saying by Haveeru. “Why are they being paid such vast sums to change parties? Why?”

Gasim’s comments were made on the back of widespread media speculation that Ahmed Mahloof, an MP for the fellow government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), was looking to switch to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

JP Spokesperson Moosa Rameez told Minivan News earlier this year that it was “against the values” of the party to offer incentives to encourage MPs to join.

The comments were made after former PPM MP Ilham Ahmed told media that his allegiance was “not for sale”, despite his “love and admiration” for JP Leader Gasim.

MP Ilham later joined the JP in April following the PPM presidential primary vote.

Various political parties have moved to reject claims they offer MPs incentives to back them.  However, NGOs in the country have previously expressed concern at a perceived accountability failure in the Maldives’ democratic system allowing MPs to switch freely between rival parties for personal gain.

Transparency Maldives has claimed the lack of mechanisms for investigating the alleged use of incentives to encourage MPs to transfer to other parties had done very little to “allay fears” among the general public of parliament being a corrupt institution.

Ibrahim Shareef, former Deputy Leader of the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), said in January this year that he did not believe MPs were necessarily having their allegiance bought by rival parties.

However, he said there was realistically “always a temptation” for elected officials to transfer to a party expected to come to power.

Shareef claimed such behaviour was a likely factor in growing public disillusionment with democracy.

Earlier this month, Parliamentary Speaker Abullah Shahid, who switched his allegiance from the DRP to the MDP in April 2013, confirmed that five MPs had recently moved to new parties.

This movement of MPs included Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim from the People’s Alliance (PA) going to the PPM, MPs Ahmed Shareef Adam and Ahmed Moosa from PPM to President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s Gaumee Ihthihaad Party (GIP), and MP Ali Azim from the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

DRP MP Ali Saleem meanwhile left the party to become an Independent MP.

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Group disrupts MDP rally in Henveiru

Additional reporting by Ahmed Naish

A group of about a dozen young men with placards and a megaphone disrupted a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) gathering in the Henveiru ward of Male’ last night (June 24) and “actively tried to incite violence”, the MDP has claimed.

The youths, who appeared to be in their 20s, entered the MDP rally held in Henveiru Park shortly after it began at 9:45pm, carrying placards with anti-MDP phrases and shouting.

The group was “actively trying to incite violence”, claimed MDP Spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor. “We suspect the [rival parties] paid the children.”

“It exposes them as thuggish. They are probably thinking ‘We lost [the elections] so we might as well disrupt [the MDP],” said Ghafoor.

“The young men were aggressive and wanted to scare people off,” Gahfoor continued. “They were kicking the shins of the MDP supporters in attendance and issuing thinly veiled threats. That’s what was most disturbing.”

Ghafoor explained that the young men kept moving through the crowd of MDP supporters and crowding the front of the podium.

“To show their impunity, one young man came up to the podium while [former MDP Chairperson and MP] Mariya Didi was speaking, picked up and drank her bottle of water,” said Ghafoor.

“He then hit the mic with a flourish and one of the young men declared ‘no one can hold a meeting without Bosnia City’s consent’,” he continued.

Some of the MDP supporters in attendance came to stop the youth from causing further disturbances at the podium and pushed him away, explained Ghafoor.

“The crowd of a couple hundred did not leave, but they were not happy with the disruptions and ‘boo-ed’ the youths, which caused them to back off a bit,” he said.

“The young men actively wanted to incite violence. That didn’t happen, but the crowd did shout [political slogans] at them saying things like ‘ehburun’ (one round),” he noted.

Ghafoor explained that the MDP speakers at the rally patiently appealed to the young men to let the meeting continue and told the youths they could protest peacefully without disrupting the rally.

“Two of the protesters’ placards claimed MDP Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik and Vilma Rasheed swindled money, which is not true,” said Gahfoor. “They also claimed to not have been treated well by Nasheed’s government.”

Ghafoor referred to their efforts as “amateurish” and “rather silly”.

“They were not savvy about what they had to say,” he added.

Ghafoor said he suspected the youth group consisted of displaced children – since large numbers from the islands relocated to the capital after the tsunami – rather than Male’ residents.

While being heckled during her speech “Mariya Didi said ‘This is why MDP is campaigning, we don’t want displaced children to be used by people’,” explained Ghafoor.

Some of the speakers planned for last night’s MDP rally were unable to participate because “there was so much commotion” and ultimately the meeting ended earlier than planned, he added.

While Ghafoor was not aware if anyone called the police he was surprised at their lack of presence because “they are usually all over the place” during political events.

“[It shows] the police are supportive of such acts headed by the [government] mutineers and that this is how they are getting ready for the elections,” he alleged.

“Instead, the police should do everything to ensure elections are free and fair,” he added.

Given the disturbances at last night’s MDP Henveiru rally and the property damage done to a MDP meeting hall in the Manchangoalhi ward of Male’ on Sunday night (June 23), Ghafoor believes more disturbing incidents “are likely to happen again”.

“In which case we will contact MDP members to combat these types of disturbances with sheer numbers, rather than have a confrontation,” said Ghafoor.

Rocks and eggs

Meanwhile, a rock and some eggs were thrown at a party meeting hall in the Manchangoalhi ward of Male’ on Sunday night (June 23) and “late last night (the early morning hours of June 25)  the door was smashed at the same jagaha (meeting hall),” said Ghafoor.

In his speech after opening the hall later Sunday night, former President Mohamed Nasheed – who is currently campaigning in the southern atolls – asserted that MDP members would not retaliate with violence.

Two men on a motorbike reportedly threw the rock at a glass window of the meeting hall at about 7:45pm on Sunday night.

According to internet news outlet CNM, MDP activists were inside the hall finalising preparations for the opening ceremony scheduled for later that night. The rock however did not completely shatter the glass.

MDP presidential candidate Nasheed was due to open the meeting hall designated for supporters from the atolls of Shaviyani, Raa and Laamu at 10:15pm.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nasheed said MDP’s opponents were resorting to violence as it was becoming clear to pro-government parties that they lacked support from the public.

As long as “traitor” Abdulla Riyaz remained Commissioner of Police, the country could not be at peace, Nasheed said, alleging that the police chief was one of the “main architects” of the “coup d’etat” on February 7, 2012.

Abdulla Riyaz, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police dismissed in the early days of the MDP government, was among three ex-servicemen that entered military barracks on the morning of February 7 to negotiate on behalf of mutinying police and soldiers at the Republic Square demanding Nasheed’s resignation.

Upon emerging from the military headquarters in front of the Republic Square, current Defence Minister Colonel (Retired) Mohamed Nazim – flanked by Riyaz and current State Minister for Home Affairs Mohamed Fayaz ‘FA’ – declared that Nasheed had been told to resign within the hour “without any conditions.”

The demand was “non-negotiable” and “not up for further discussion,” he added, before declaring that he was now in charge of the military and would soon appoint senior officers.

The three ex-servicemen then accompanied President Nasheed to the President’s Office under heavy military guard, where he announced his resignation at a televised press conference with the three former National Security Service (NSS) officers looking on.

Speaking at the jagaha opening on Sunday night, Nasheed said that the collective “hope and passion” of the Maldivian people were “more powerful than all their batons, pepper spray, iron armour and rubber bullets.”

“God willing, not a single MDP member will lift even the little finger in anger,” he said, adding that the party hoped to open eight meeting halls in Male’ in the near future.

As “every other house” in the capital would become a MDP jagaha before September, Nasheed claimed, “there are not enough rocks in Male'” to target all the meeting halls.

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Parliament rejects bill proposing enforcement of death penalty by hanging

Additional reporting by Neil Merrett

Parliament on Monday rejected 26-18 with no abstentions a bill proposed by government-aligned Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed to implement the death penalty by hanging.

The death penalty legislation was put to a vote to decide whether or not to proceed with the bill at committee stage.

Presenting the bill at a sitting earlier this month, the MP for Vilufushi said the legislation proposed implementing the death penalty by hanging if the Supreme Court upheld a death sentence passed by a lower court.

He contended that the death penalty would act as an effective deterrent to the increasing rate of premeditated murders in the Maldives.

MP Riyaz was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed reportedly said he “will not vote to kill someone” at a time when the judiciary did not inspire public confidence.

“In reality, there are a lot of things I want to consider before I cast a vote that will allow a Maldivian citizen to be executed. Islam has determined penalties for certain reasons, to protect certain things. To protect property, life, religion, lineage and dignity. I don’t want a person to die because of a vote that I cast in favour of a law that does not protect these things,” the former MDP MP was quoted as saying by Sun Online.

The MDP meanwhile said today that there had been a “strong understanding”  among the party’s MPs participating in the vote to dismiss the bill.

MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said the party’s parliamentary group had opted to throw out the bill on the grounds that it would be “irresponsible” to approve such measures with ongoing concerns held by itself and independent experts over the functioning of the country’s judiciary.

Ghafoor additionally criticised the proposed bill as being irrelevant, arguing that the country’s draft penal code – a recent issue of contention between MPs and certain political parties – already included provisions for the death sentence as outlined under Islamic Sharia.

He said that with the implementation of the death penalty in the Maldives being a sensitive issue, some party MPs and politicians had preferred not to attend yesterday’s vote. Ghafoor said the vote highlighted the difficulties in the country of voting over issues requiring religious understanding.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) said no whip line has been established for yesterday’s vote, which was attended by only a limited number of its parliamentary group.

“Most of the PPM’s MPs were not in Male’, but at campaign locations [at the time],” the spokesperson claimed.

Implementation debate

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 commuted these verdicts to life sentences.

In October 2012, the government 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.

As well as the bill proposed by MP Riyaz, in December 2012, former Attorney General (AG) Azima Shukoor 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

The Attorney General’s Office at the time said that it had 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.

Minivan News understands that the bill submitted by the former AG remains open for comments on potential amendments.

The state’s stance to review implementation of death sentences has led to strong criticism from certain human rights-focused NGOs this year.

Speaking to Minivan News immediately following a visit to the Maldives in April 2013, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director Polly Truscott raised concerns about the recent drafting of new bills outlining implementation for executions.

She argued that even in practice, such bills would be deemed as a human rights violation, with the NGO maintaining that there remained no research to support the assertion that executing criminals served as an effective deterrent for serious crimes.

Truscott said that with the draft Penal Code also including provisions that would leave applying the death sentence to the discretion of an individual judge, the whole purpose of codifying laws would be undermined should the bill be passed.

She noted this was a particular concern considering the recent findings of various international experts such as  UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Judiciary, Gabriela Knaul, regarding the politicised nature of the country’s judicial system.

“To leave Sharia law to the discretion of individual judges is something we believe would be a bad idea,” she said at the time.

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MDP expresses concern with President Waheed’s appointee to JSC

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has expressed concern over President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s appointment yesterday of former Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) Spokesperson Latheefa Gasim to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), alleging the appointee had ties with the Jumhoree Party (JP).

In a press release yesterday (June 24), the party characterised Latheefa Gasim’s appointment as an attempt to “increase the political and other forms of influence of a particular group and promote their self-interest” through the judicial oversight commission.

“Latheefa Gasim is the wife of Mohamed Ikram, who is employed by Jumhoree Party presidential candidate Gasim Ibrahim as the head of V-media’s political department and a presenter of VTV, who campaigns for Gasim Ibrahim,” the party said, adding that Ikram was also a member of business magnate Gasim’s JP.

JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim is the parliament’s representative on the 10-member JSC, which consists of three judges from the three tiers of the judiciary (trial courts, High Court and Supreme Court); a representative of the President, the Attorney General, the chair of the Civil Service Commission; the Speaker of Parliament, a member of parliament elected by the People’s Majlis, a member of the public selected by parliament; and a lawyer elected by licensed practitioners in the Maldives.

Gasim, the JP MP for Alif Dhaal Maamigili, is the chairman of the Villa Group of businesses, which owns resorts, tour operators, a cement packing factory, a gas provider, an airline and several retail outlets.

The MDP alleged in its statement that Gasim has been “working ceaselessly” through the JSC to bar former President Nasheed from the upcoming presidential election on September 7, adding that the rival candidate has made public remarks to that effect.

Latheefa Gasim’s appointment to the commission has secured “two seats for the Jumhooree Party presidential candidate,” the press release continued, which has afforded the JP leader “further opportunities to advance his political and personal interests and exert extreme influence on the JSC.”

The press release also noted that Latheefa Gasim had made several statements to the media concerning MDP presidential candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed’s trial at the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court.

The former DJA spokesperson was not responding to Minivan News at time of press.

Latheef Gasim’s appointment yesterday followed the removal of Mohamed ‘Reynis’ Saleem by President Waheed last week ostensibly over allegations that the lawyer commissioned gangs to retrieve money owed to him.

The President’s appointee on the JSC was summoned to the police for questioning over the allegations in May.

The Criminal Court meanwhile refused to grant police an arrest warrant to take Saleem into custody, a decision which was backed upon appeal by the High Court.

Saleem was the defence counsel of Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim in criminal cases involving an alleged scam to defraud the now-defunct Ministry of Atolls Development.

The cases were dismissed by the Criminal Court shortly after the controversial transfer of presidential power on February 7, 2012.

Meanwhile, in her report to the United Nations Human Rights Council following a visit to the Maldives, UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul observed that the JSC had a “complicated” relationship with the judiciary, given that the commission “considers that it has exclusive jurisdiction over all complaints against judges, including over criminal allegations, while the Prosecutor General understands that the criminal investigation agencies have the competence to investigate criminal conducts by anyone.”

The special rapporteur stated that there was near unanimous consensus during her visit that the composition of the JSC – which includes representatives from all three branches of government instead of exclusively the judiciary as was the norm in other nations – was “inadequate and politicised”.

This complaint was first highlighted in a report by the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) in 2010.

“Because of this politicisation, the commission has allegedly been subjected to all sorts of external influence and has consequently been unable to function properly,” Knaul observed.

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Lottery draw held for winners of flats under Veshi Fahi Male’ housing programme

A lottery draw among winners of flats in Male’ and Hulhumale’ under categories A and B of the Veshi Fahi Male’ housing programme took place on Sunday (June 23) to award and designate flats.

Deputy Minister of Housing Abdulla Muttalib told newspaper Haveeru yesterday (June 24) that the lottery draw took place for 100 flats in the A category and 540 flats in the B category.

He added that 100 flats in the ground floor of apartment complexes are designated for families who have dependents or children with special needs.

Muttalib also revealed that the ministry has reached an agreement with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to lower the advance payment from MVR 28,000 (US$1,816) to MVR 19,000 (US$1,232).

He added that agreements for the flats would be signed within the next three weeks.

While winners of flats in Male’ would be awarded the flats once construction in two areas of the capital was complete, Muttalib conceded that the work undertaken by India’s TATA company was completely stalled at present.

The Veshi Fahi Male’ de-congestion programme was a flagship project of the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government under its manifesto pledge to provide affordable housing.

The project was launched on November 10, 2010 to ease congestion in the capital and develop the Greater Male’ Region, consisting of Hulhumale’, Vili-Male’, Thilafushi industrial island and Gulhifalhu.

Approximately 125,000 people are believed to reside in about 16,000 households in Male’ while the total number of households in the Maldives is estimated to be 46,000.

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Former MDP MP Musthafa to ask Supreme Court to declare DRP Leader Thasmeen’s seat vacant

Former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Musthafa has said he is filing a case in the Supreme Court requesting the apex court declare the seat of Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali vacant, over unpaid debts.

Musthafa contends Thasmeen – recently appointed President Mohamed Waheed’s running mate ahead of September’s election – had not paid loans he took from Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim or those taken from the Bank of Maldives in the name of a company of which he is a shareholder.

Musthafa himself was disqualified from the parliament in 2012 over an unpaid decreed debt, which the court concluded had rendered him constitutionally ineligible to remain in the seat.

As a consequence, Mustafa said that there was precedent for the court to declare Thasmeen’s Kendhoo Constituency seat vacant.

On June 17, the Civil Court ordered all Thasmeen’s bank accounts of frozen, and ordered immigration to withhold his passport following a case filed by Deputy Speaker Nazim to recover a debt of MVR 1.92 million (US$124,513).

Nazim filed the case requesting enforcement of a Civil Court verdict in April 2011 – upheld by the High Court in April 2013 – ordering the vice presidential candidate to pay back the money.

MP Nazim, of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), initially sued Thasmeen in March 2011 to recover the remainder of a loan worth MVR 2.55 million (US$200,000). After the Civil Court ruled in favour of Nazim, Thasmeen appealed the judgment at the High Court in June 2011.

In October 2011, the High Court upheld Civil Court verdicts ordering Mahandhoo Investments and Kabalifaru Investments – two companies with ties to Thasmeen – to repay millions of dollars worth of loans to the Bank of Maldives Plc Ltd (BML).

In the first case involving Mahandhoo Investments, BML issued a US$23.5 million demand loan, a US$103,200 bank guarantee and US$30,090 letter of credit on July 10, 2008.

The second case involved a US$3.3 million loan issued to Kabaalifaru Investment. The appeal of a Civil Court verdict on September 30, 2009 ordered the company to settle the debt within 12 months.

Meanwhile, a third case involving a Civil Court verdict in December 2009 ordered luxury yachting company Sultans of the Seas – with close ties to the DRP leader – to pay over US$50 million in unpaid loans, including incurred interest and fines, was appealed at the High Court.

In September 2009, Maldives Customs filed a case at Civil Court to recover US$8.5 million from Sultans of the Seas in unpaid duties and fines for allegedly defrauding customs to import two luxury yachts, and in February 2010 the court ordered the company to pay MVR 110 million (US$7 million) as fines and unpaid import duties.

Precedent

In July 2009, then-PPM Vice President Umar Naseer filed a case against Musthafa shortly after the MP won the election for Thimarafushi constituency against former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s son, Gassan Maumoon.

Umar Naseer contended that Musthafa not repaid a loan of US$31,231.66 (MVR 481,952) borrowed from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) according to the court order and therefore must be removed from parliament for the violation of article 73(c)1.

According to the article 73(c)1 of the constitution, “a person shall be disqualified from election as, a member of the People’s Majlis, or a member of the People’s Majlis immediately becomes disqualified, if he has a decreed debt which is not being paid as provided in the judgment.”

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Religious advice should not involve political interest, says Nasheed

The Maldivian public are often misinformed of authentic Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet) because some local scholars offer religious advice with the intention of serving their political interests, former President Mohamed Nasheed said last night (June 23).

Speaking at a ceremony at the Male’ City Hall to launch a second volume of Dhivehi translation and interpretations of Sahih Muslim’s Hadiths by former State Minister for Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, Nasheed said genuine religious advice should not involve personal interest or a political “agenda.”

While a politician might present statistics in a way that would favour his party, “religious advice should not be given in a way that would benefit a political ideology.”

One of the biggest problems facing the country today was the “mixing up” of politicians and religious scholars, Nasheed added.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate said Sheikh Hussain Rasheed’s book should be made widely available for the public so that Maldivians could distinguish between inauthentic and authentic Hadiths.

The Hadiths were compiled by Imam Bukhari and Muslim during the Abbasid caliphate, Nasheed observed, which was a “golden age” for Islam and the pursuit of knowledge.

“It is said that there were 700 libraries in Baghdad during that period,” he said.

Sheikh Rasheed’s second volume of Hadith translations are available for MVR 250 (US$16).

The former Adhaalath Party President explained at last night’s ceremony that the complete translations of the 5,263 sayings would be published in a planned 12 volumes.

Parts two and three of Sheikh Rasheed’s books on prayer instructions were also released last night by former Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari and Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid. 

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