Tag: minivan

Fined container ship permitted to leave

A container ship that ran aground off the east coast of Male’ in early January and was fined MVR 61.6 million for damage to the area’s reef has been permitted to leave after providing a bank guarantee, reports local media.

During an investigation into the incident, the Maldivian Transit Authority prohibited the Auguste Schulte from leaving the country.

The ship’s operator, Silver Company, has said it plans to carry out its own investigation into damage sustained to the reef before paying the fine, transit authority Chair Rasheed Nafiz has previously claimed.

“As keeping the ship here would cause major losses to the company, we have given the green light for the ship to leave after the bank guarantee was given,” Nafiz explained to Haveeru.

Previously, a ship operated by Delmas – the same company local media reported as owning Auguste Schulte – was stranded in the same area for 20 days.

Mohammed Nabeel, Managing Director of Silver Company, told local media that the compensation claim for that previous ship was set at MVR 4.5 million (US$ 291,828), adding that the contrast between the two figures is “remarkable”.

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Aasandha director claims service not suspended in India’s Amrita hospital

The Amrita Institute of Technology Hospital in Kochi, India has not suspended Aasandha health care services despite reports in local media to the contrary, the scheme’s managing director has stated.

Local media reported yesterday (January 28) that services offered under the universal health care scheme Aasandha had been suspended due to unpaid bills for treatment provided to Maldivians by Amrita hospital.

However, Aasandha Managing Director Mohamed Niyaz told Minivan News today that services had not been suspended.  Niyaz said that Aasandha was instead having to control patient admittance to keep in line with the credit limit recently imposed by the hospital.

“Because of the large number of patients who went to receive treatment at the hospital in December last year and delays in paying those bills, Amrita hospital put a credit limit on the treatment they can offer that is paid for by Aasandha,” he explained.

“We are now controlling the number of patients we are admitting to the hospital in order for Aasandha to not go over the imposed credit limit,” Niyaz said.

An official from Amrita hospital told Minivan News that while it is still treating patients who are covered by Aasandha, there had been a period of four days earlier this month where it stopped admitting patients due to unpaid bills.

“There is a total of 7 million rupees (US$ 130,536) outstanding in payment to be made by Aasandha through Hospital Professional Liability (HPL) insurance, who we deal with.

“We ceased treating outpatients covered by Aasandha for four days, but HPL then paid part of the bill and so we resumed our services,” the hospital official told Minivan News.

The credit cap imposed on Aasandha by Amrita hospital was introduced to match a similar credit cap applied to all other health insurance companies who work with the hospital, the hospital official said.

“Originally we had a special agreement with Aasandha whereby they had no credit cap on the treatment we could provide. However our Financial Controller has now introduced it because it is the same as other insurance companies we deal with,” the hospital official added.

“Even now Aasandha’s credit cap is a lot higher than the other insurance companies. We have a great relationship with the Maldives and we treat our Maldivian patients as our own.”

According to Niyaz, patient treatment is currently being prioritised on a case-by-case basis in order for the service they are receiving to not be “compromised”.

In regard to bill payment, Niyaz claimed there had been a number of factors as to why the money had not been paid to Amrita hospital.

“It takes two to four weeks for the treatment bills to come through after a patient has been discharged from the hospital and then we have to pay for the treatment in US dollars,” he said.

“It takes a further two weeks for us to secure the dollars as we have to buy at a bank rate. We are trying to find ways to work around this problem at the moment.”

During December – a “peak” period for Maldivians wishing to seek medical treatment -Niyaz said there had been some issues receiving money from the Finance Ministry in order to pay the bills.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Niyaz revealed that Aasandha had experienced similar issues at a hospital in Colombo and three other hospitals in India, but that these have all been resolved.

Free health care of up to MVR 100,000 (US$ 6,476) was initially available to citizens under Aasandha. Changes to the system were made by the government in August last year, after concerns the scheme would run out of money.

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Housing Ministry orders police to clear MDP protest site at Usfasgandu

The Housing Ministry has sent a letter to police instructing them to clear the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s protest site at Usfasgandu, the plot of land in the south of the city behind the State Electric Company (STELCO) building.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef today confirmed to Minivan News that police had received the letter.

‘’We are currently reviewing the case. We haven’t decided [to act] on it yet,’’ Haneef said, refusing to comment further on the matter.

On January 20, 2013, Male’ City Council was ordered by the Civil Court to “hand over” the land used by the MDP for its political rallies to the Ministry of Housing within a period of seven days.

The Civil Court’s ruling also states that the city council’s current use of the area contradicts the agreement made between the council,  the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

However, Male’ City Council has appealed the ruling in the High Court, which has yet to reach a verdict in the appeal case.

Male’ City Council Mayor ‘Maizan’ Ali Manik today said that he had not officially heard about the issue and would not like to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, MDP Spokesperson MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said he had not been informed about the letter sent by the Housing Ministry to police.

Male’ City Council (MCC) leased the Usfasgandu area to the ousted ruling party for three months, prompting repeated attempts by the government to reclaim the area on the grounds it was being used for criminal activity, including the practice of black magic.

The MDP moved a few dozen metres down the road to the site after its protest camp at the tsunami monument was dismantled and completely repainted on March 19 2012 by the police and military.

On May 29, police raided the Usfasgandu site after obtaining a search warrant from the Criminal Court, ordering the MDP to vacate the area before 10:00pm. The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) then began dismantling the protest camp.

The Civil Court however issued an injunction ordering security forces to halt the operation after the MDP challenged its legality. The injunction was to stand until the court reached a verdict and was later upheld by the High Court.

In August 2012, the Civil Court ruled that the police did not have the legal authority to order the opposition MDP to vacate the area. The government has since tried to transfer the land from the council – dominated by MDP councillors – to the government-controlled Ministry of Housing and Environment.

Male’ City Council refused to hand over the land and insisted that the area was “temporarily leased” to the former ruling party in accordance with the Decentralisation Act, and contended that the ministry does not have the legal authority to reclaim council property.

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ACC to investigate two subsidiary companies registered under BML

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had said it will investigate two subsidiary companies registered under Bank of Maldives (BML).

ACC President Hassan Luthfy told local media that BML has been notified to halt operations of both the BML Properties Limited and BML Investment Limited.

Luthfy said the company has at present failed to provide documents on the two subsidiaries that it had requested, local media reported.

“We have been informed of problems related to the two companies through the media, and investigations are under way,” he was quoted as saying.

“Complaints include the issue of the chairman holding shares in the company, and the issue of efforts to manage mortgaged property instead of selling them as ordered by the court. Some people have also complained saying that their mortgages have been sold, and that their cases were not dealt with in the same manner.”

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Comment: In defence of Scottish Police training the Maldives’ police service

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have just become aware of the Guardian article ‘Maldives police accused of civil rights abuses being trained by Scottish police’ and feel obliged to make comment since I am mentioned in it but wasn’t consulted for a view on the matter.

I spent some time in the Maldives as an independent Police Consultant having been invited by the then Commissioner Adam Zahir to conduct a root and branch review of the Maldives Police Service practices and procedures in the capital Male’. My 2006 report made a total of 76 recommendations for improvement, 95 percent of which were later approved by the Force Executive.

I also spent some time assisting with the implementation of many of these recommendations and was quite confident that real progress was made in developing the service being provided to the public by what was, in effect, a fledgling police force in a developing country.

I was not alone in providing this type of assistance and worked alongside officers from the Australian Police and members of the Scottish Police College and was in fact personally instrumental in introducing the College Training input to them.

My presence in the Maldives was generated by a desire by both the police hierarchy and the government of the day who, to their credit, recognised the need for developmental training for their police staff to devise, implement and improve the delivery of a sound community-based policing model. I was very impressed by the enthusiasm and cooperation I received at all levels to achieve this end.

Quite clearly, radical change in any organisation takes time to establish itself and I was under no naive illusions when I left the country at the end of my contract that it wouldn’t take a while for the changes to become thoroughly embedded in the policing culture. I was content however that they were on track to become a much more efficient and effective law enforcement agency.

The somewhat unforeseen political developments which have taken place in the Maldives since I left are not my concern nor of my making. I spent my professional life in a policing environment which was completely divorced from political interference in operational matters, which is exactly the way it should be everywhere.

That said, any breaches of human rights which have taken place in the country and attributed to law enforcement officers are a real concern to everyone and can only serve to hinder the progress the Maldives makes into becoming a modern democratic state. Misconduct by police officers in any of the ways alleged is highly troubling and needs to be vigorously dealt with and stamped out by the organisation.

Notwithstanding, it is of considerable concern to me that Severin Carrell’s article in the Guardian seeks to establish a connection between my training input and that of the Scottish Police College and others to the alleged “thuggish” and “brutal” conduct of a minority of police officers in Male’, the inference being that the Scottish Police connection has been wholly inadequate or that I/we actually trained them or somehow influenced them to behave in that way, a thought process that is almost too ludicrous to contemplate.

The Scottish Police College can speak for themselves but it is quite obvious to me that elements of the opposition parties and others with axes to grind in the Maldives are mischief making in taking advantage of the current situation and have manipulated the platform of the Guardian newspaper to attack the integrity of the police, whom they see as an arm of the current government, and that the Guardian took the bait hook, line and sinker, producing an article which is so one-sided and biased that it barely merits the column inches it inhabits. The tack it takes however also by implication taints me personally and it is not in my nature to let that pass unchallenged.

The quotes cherry-picked from my 2006 report about the force’s Special Operations Command and used in the Guardian article – an “openly paramilitary organisation” and a “macho elite … most of whom lack basic police training” – were some of many comments intended as constructive criticism of different facets of the force and which formed the basis for structured improvements. Notably the Guardian fails to mention that as a result of these comments the SOC subsequently underwent considerable developmental training in an effort to correct the issues I highlighted.

It is well known in the Maldives and worth commenting on that opposition political parties pay gangs of youths to infiltrate so-called ‘peaceful demonstrations’ and thereby generate violent confrontations with the police to discredit them, but I also note no mention is made by Severin Carrell about that either.

Recent events in the streets of the UK involving some of the worst rioting in living memory serve to highlight that even in so-called developed democracies situations arise where policing is tested to the utmost and mistakes are made in dealing with them. While I abhor the abuse of power by any law enforcement agency it is easy with the benefit of hindsight for people who weren’t there to sit in a cosy armchair and criticise actions taken or not taken by officers at such highly charged scenarios where in reality the use of pepper sprays and batons can often be both justified and legal.

Quite a long period of my police career involved working in a complaints and discipline role and I am the first to advocate harsh treatment of serving police officers who break the rules of their office, especially when it involves blatant criminal behaviour, but it is a different matter altogether when fingers are randomly pointed and uncorroborated accusations are made in the thinly disguised name of a political cause and spread across a UK national newspaper in furtherance of that.

Since working in the Maldives I have an affiliation with the country and its people and the work I did there was genuinely focused on helping to make it a better place to live and work. The fact that things now seem to be unraveling to an extent saddens me a great deal but it is disingenuous in the extreme for anyone to pursue their personal objectives by inferring wholly innocent individuals are somehow to blame for it all.

I would suggest that, as well as apologising to me, if the Guardian wants to get involved in such matters as the Maldives crisis it takes a less naive and more balanced approach and looks much more searchingly at everything going on there, as well as giving more credit for the positive things that have been achieved by dedicated people. Impugning the professional integrity of those striving to do good things may be the Guardian’s idea of a good story but I doubt if many right thinking people would agree.

A final word – the present Commissioner of the Maldives Police Service, Abdulla Riyaz, is a well respected, dedicated and fair minded individual of the highest integrity who has devoted his professional career to the improvement of policing services in his country. I have worked closely with him in the past before he was appointed to his current position and I hold him in high regard. He is well able to defend his own position and actions but I feel it is grossly unfair for his considerable achievements to be undermined in the way this Guardian article has done.

Scottish Police Superintendent (retired), John Robertson, was an independent police consultant to the Maldives Police Service in 2006 and 2008.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Adhaalath Party denies supporters physically attacked by MDP

Adhaalath Party representative Hussain Wafeer has denied allegations that Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters “physically attacked” its members on the island of Thulhaadhoo in Baa Atoll last week.

The comments were made after local media reported that a crowd of “violent thugs” – led by an unnamed MDP councillor – attempted to attack Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla during a visit to the island.

An unnamed source from Thulhaadhoo previously told the Sun Online news service that the attackers threw stones at the visitors, injuring several people during the incident.

Despite the claims, Wafeer told Minivan News today that while the gathered crowd did not physically attack anyone during the visit, sand was thrown at Adhaalath party representatives.

Wafeer refused to speculate on whether the crowd were true MDP members, or whether an MDP Councillor had been involved in the alleged attack.

“They were waving MDP flags, so we can assume they were MDP, but we didn’t recognise any of the members so we can’t say they were MDP,” Wafeer added.

An official from within Thulhaadhoo Island Council – speaking on condition of anonymity – said that the crowd who greeted the Adhaalath Party officials was both a mix of MDP and anti-MDP supporters. The council source said it was not certain who had thrown sand at Sheikh Imran.

“Some of local women on the island witnessed a Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) councillor throwing sand and causing the trouble, while some people said it was the MDP supporters,” the council official claimed.

“After an hour the riot police showed up and arrested the island President, a councillor and some MDP supporters.”

Adhaalath Party Leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Following the incident, a senior MDP MP told Minivan News that he had received death threats via telephone from unknown callers whom he believed to be members of the Adhaalath Party.

According to Sun Online, the police have arrested a number of individuals allegedly involved in the incident, including an MDP councillor.

Verbal abuse

Following an MDP protest held in Male’ on Friday (January 25),the Adhaalath Party alleged that demonstrators had verbally abused its supporters and vandalised promotional materials at a membership drive held at a school.

The party also claimed MDP protesters ripped up the party’s banners at the school, which were temporarily put up as part of the membership drive.

Responding to the allegations at the time, MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor claimed that while the party did not encourage such behaviour towards government-aligned parties, he said he would not be surprised if some supporters had ripped up banners during the protest.

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Foreign Minister admits Maldives’ ties with India weakened after GMR Dispute

Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Abdulla has admitted relations between India and Maldives have deteriorated following the premature cancellation of the GMR airport development contract.

Samad’s comments came after Maldivians were left struggling to obtain Indian visas following a clamp down by Indian authorities, shortly after GMR was ousted from the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

Speaking at the parliament’s Government Accountability Committee, Samad was reported by local media as saying that despite official assurances that ties between Maldives and India remained unaffected, “the ground reality is to the contrary”.

“Maldives and India has long existing close ties. But the recent tensions especially the GMR spat has affected the relations even though both sides have not said so officially.

“After these things surfaced we have been anticipating the backlash. I don’t want anything unexpected to come to pass that causes difficulties for Maldivians. We are working in two ways. One is to repair the damage done to the relations and come to a mutual agreement on certain things,” Samad was quoted as saying in local newspaper Haveeru.

State Foreign Minister Hassan Saeed said that during the weekly sit-downs with the Indian High Commission in the Maldives, unilateral actions on the part of Maldives were constantly highlighted.

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Queues return to Indian High Commission as Maldivians seek Indian visas

Queues have started to form outside the Indian High Commission in Male’ as people seek to obtain Indian visas.

Earlier this month the Foreign Ministry decided to hand back all Indian visa application operations to the Indian High Commission following a “decline” in visa requests.

However, local media reported that Maldivians began to queue outside the High Commission building at 11:00pm on January 26 after having their visa applications rejected for various reasons.

Despite media reports, an official in the Indian High Commission denied there had been overnight queuing outside the commission building.

“Some people had come in the morning a little early so there may have been a slight queue then, but was no overnight queuing. If a problem does arise we will find a solution,” the high commission official told Minivan News.

Minivan News was awaiting a response from the Foreign Ministry at time of press.

In his address during Indian Republic Day celebrations in Male’ on Friday, Indian High Commissioner D M Mulay said India offered its assurances “that no Maldivian would ever be denied visa to India and we will work very closely with the Maldivian authorities to resolve all the outstanding issues in a spirit of cooperation and good will. ”

Last month, Maldivians were forced to queue outside the Indian High Commission – in some cases overnight – to obtain medical visas in order to travel to India.

To alleviate the issue, the Foreign Ministry launched an SMS system that alerted individuals when it was their turn to have their visas processed.

However, following a decline in visa requests this month, Maldivians wishing to obtain tokens for their Indian visas to be processed will now have to use the Indian High Commission building as before, as the Foreign Ministry is no longer providing the service.

A spokesman from the Foreign Ministry told Minivan News earlier this month that should the demand for visas increase, the ministry will take measures to ensure all visas are processed.

“If there is a requirement we will consult the Indian High Commission. It is currently issuing 53 tokens per day and we think that is working fine for now,” he said. “We will ensure that Maldivians get their visas.”

The Indian High Commission has claimed the tightened restrictions were in line with a bilateral agreement signed back in 1979 and its appropriation by Maldivian authorities in the intervening years.

A source within the Indian High Commission, speaking to Minivan News in December last year, contended that all visas given to Maldivians for travel to India were provided free of charge – a courtesy he claimed was not extended to Indian citizens coming to the Maldives for work.

The commission spokesperson added that the introduction of the tighter regulations was imposed as a clear “signal” from Indian authorities that the concerns it had over practices in the Maldives such as the confiscation of passports of migrant workers, needed to be brought to an end.

Last week, the High Commission presented journalists with a list of 11 consular grievances, including discrimination and mistreatment of its expatriates and the routine withholding of passports by government departments.

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Cases against MDP MPs Jabir and Ghafoor to be forwarded to PG’s Office this week

Cases against MDP MPs Abdulla Jabir and Hamid Abdul Ghafoor are to be forwarded the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office this week, Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz has said.

The commissioner told local media the cases to be forwarded to the PG’s Office are in regard to both Jabir and Ghafoor’s refusal to provide a urine sample after they were arrested under suspicion of drinking alcohol in November 2012.

Police Commissioner Riyaz was quoted as saying that the case against Ghafoor is also in relation to a previous occasion whereby he refused to provide urine sample after being arrested for obstructing police duty at a protest.

The Drug Act states that the punishment for a person who refuses to provide urine sample when requested by the police is imprisonment for one year, local media reported.

Jabir and Ghafoor were arrested on suspicion of alcohol consumption during a special operation carried out on the island of Hodaidhoo in Haa Dhaal Atoll. Both MPs were subsequently released by Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court.

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