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Poll of President’s party members reveals 85 percent fraudulent: Anti-Corruption Commission

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has interviewed 100 members of President Mohamed Waheed’s Gaumee Ihthihaadh Party (GIP) and alleged 85 percent of those polled had no knowledge of ever joining the party.

According to a statement from the ACC, these interviewees said they had neither filled out nor signed any GIP membership forms. The ACC said the details of the interviewees had been shared with the Elections Commission (EC), and called on it to cease processing GIP’s membership forms until it had verified they were genuine.

Other issues in the submitted membership forms highlighted by the ACC included inconsistencies between entry dates and dates written on the forms, as well as the case of some applicants having died prior to signing their forms.

“Two of the forms submitted to the Elections Commission for registration as Gaumee Ihthihaadh Party members were signed by persons who had passed away prior to the forms being sent to the EC. One person who according to the form had signed up for the party on March 6, 2013 had in fact passed away on August 8, 2012. Another applicant said to have signed up on February 16, 2013, but passed away on January 16, 2011,” the ACC declared.

The ACC said the investigation followed a complaint received by the commission stating the GIP had fraudulently enrolled members in their party through the misuse of records and information of two state institutions.

GIP Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza was  not responding to calls at time of press.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) leader and running mate of Waheed for the September Presidential elections, Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, and DRP MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom, were also not responding to calls.

“You can falsify records of members, not their hearts” : Nasheed

“A robbery you commit will not push citizens into depression and hopelessness. The people remain firm,” former President and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Presidential Candidate Nasheed said in reference to the ACC statement on GIP’s alleged fraudulence.

Speaking at a party rally held Thursday night, Nasheed said that although a party can falsify people’s records and include them in a party register, they could not steal hearts and loyalty.

Observing that GIP, which performed poorly in past elections, had nonetheless somehow managed to raise its membership above the new 10,000 member minimum, Nasheed accused the party of trying to “steal our members” and called for investigation and criminal charges.

Nasheed declared that monitoring the political party registry was the responsibility of the Elections Commission, and said the Prosecutor General was required to take action over the ACC’s allegations.

“The political party registry is one of the key resources needed to build good governance for the people. This cannot be tampered with. By tampering with and falsifying this register, we are obstructing our roads to development,” he stated.

MDP also released a press statement condemning the fraud and “Waheed’s attempts to further undermine democracy, following his actions to topple a democratically elected government through a coup d’etat”.

“This party is deeply concerned that personal records of citizens held in state institutions with confidentiality are being misused to further the temporary political needs of a particular people, and that the whole democratic system is being undermined for these personal political aims,” the statement read.

The party called on the Prosecutor General to investigate and take legal action against the leader of the GIP, President Mohamed Waheed.

“If fraud is confirmed, membership will be made void”: EC

Elections Commission Vice President Ahmed Fayaz stated that the commission is currently reviewing the GIP membership forms, and verifying the findings of the ACC.

“We hope to have completed the verification process by next Monday. If we can confirm that there is indeed fraudulent membership applications, we will make them void. We will then notify the party and advise against repeating such acts,” Fayaz said.

“As the courts have not made a ruling on the Political Party Act, GIP will also remain a party for the time being even if this investigation leads to them having less than the required 10,000 members,” Fayaz said.

The Supreme Court issued an injunction on March 14 which stands effective to date, ordering all authorities to not consider any political party as dissolved until the court rules on a case submitted by then Attorney General Azima Shakoor claiming that parts of the Political Party Act contravene the constitution.

As per the Act, a political party must have a minimum of 10,000 members to be included in the political party register.

The Political Party Act placed 11 parties at risk of dissolution. GIP and the Adhaalath Party have since submitted enough forms to the Elections Commission to reach the 10,000 member target.

On March 13, GIP Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza claimed that “the Political Party Act was fabricated to destroy GIP”.

Riza also contended then that Maldives’ political party system was “significantly in need of smaller political parties” and that all major political parties had “betrayed the nation” because it had the support base needed to do so.

Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizz and Prosecutor General’s Office Media Official Hussain Nashid were not responding to calls at time of press.

Progressive Party of Maldives MP Ahmed Nihan was also not available for comments.

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MDP MP Ali Waheed calls to exhume body of murdered MP Afrasheem, conduct post-mortem

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Deputy Parliament Group Leader MP Ali Waheed has called on the state to exhume the body of murdered scholar and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Dr Afrasheem Ali in order to conduct a post mortem.

Referring to the MP’s murder last year as the “most serious crime ever committed in the Maldives”, Waheed said that various allegations and rumours were being spread to create confusion and suspicion in society about the case.

He said that these allegations had prominently focused on the involvement of certain senior politicians in the crime, including the MDP’s own Chairperson MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik and PPM presidential candidate, MP Abdullah Yameen.

Waheed stated that it was therefore of utmost importance to conduct a post mortem in order to bring an end to this speculation and allegations over the case, while ascertaining the facts around Dr Afrasheem’s murder.

Prior to Waheed’s comments, MDP Chairperson and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik also spoke of the importance of clarifying facts regarding Afrasheem’s murder.

Echoing comments previously raised by former President Mohamed Nasheed at a party rally, Moosa spoke of the need to verify if there was any truth in information that individuals suspected of involvement in the murder had fled the country on the day of the attack.

He further questioned why street surveillance cameras installed by the police had not been in operation on the night of the murder.

MDP MP Mohamed Riyaz also spoke of the allegations that Sudanese nationals may have had involvement in the crime, while stressing the importance of verifying the truth behind claims that Afrasheem had been summoned to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs shortly before his murder.

PPM MP Ahmed Nihan was not responding to calls today from Minivan News today. Meanwhile, Dr Abdulla Mausoom, Parliamentary Group Leader of the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), said he was unavailable for comment at time of press.

Background

Maldives Police Services announced in October 2012 that the FBI were extending assistance in the investigation of the MPs murder.

Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz later stated in a press conference held in December 2012 that the murder of Afrasheem had been carried out with a political motive, and that the culprits were to be paid MVR 4 million (US$ 260,000).

Riyaz had at the time dismissed claims that the murder was linked to religious fundamentalists, stating “no evidence has been gathered which suggests this murder had a religious motive.”

The main murder suspect identified by the police investigation into the attack, Hussain Humam, initially denied charges. He later confessed to the crime at a hearing held in May.

At the hearing, state prosecutors read out a statement which was said to have been given by Humam at one of the initial hearings. The statement claimed that son-in-law of ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, Abdulla ‘Jaa’ Javid, had offered to pay him MVR 4 million for the murder of MP Afrasheem.

In the last hearing held in early June, Humam once again retracted his confession, claiming that he had been coerced into confession by police.

Humam’s father has also written to the Criminal Court and the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives alleging police of conducting psychological abuse against the suspect and exerting coercion to confess to a crime he did not commit.

Religious scholar and MP Dr. Afrasheem Ali was found brutally murdered in the early hours of October 2, 2012 and was buried at a state funeral after Asr prayers on the same day.

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Political instability is key concern at Maldives renewable energy investment conference

Participants attending this week’s Maldives International Renewable Energy Investors Conference consider the event a “good beginning”, but claimed political instability was presently hampering foreign investors’ confidence in the sector.

The two day event, which concluded yesterday (June 17), aimed to facilitate long-term partnerships between international investors, project developers, energy companies and utilities groups in order to enable successful renewable energy projects throughout the Maldives.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy hosted conference at Bandos Island Resort and Spa in an effort to boost investor confidence and attract renewable energy financing.

Although Environment Minister Dr Mariyam Shakeela noted that the conference was successful, she also urged participants to “reflect on our mutual needs” and emphasised that investments will be “protected, facilitated, and supported by the government” during her concluding speech yesterday.

“Your need to promote your [renewable energy] products and our need to reduce energy costs – that of course is a huge issue as was mentioned here so many times – and also of course to combat climate change,” said Shakeela.

“We currently rely extensively on imported fossil fuels, as we have heard here over and over and over again these last few days. Yet paradoxically, many islands have ample but underutilized renewable energy resource potential,” she continued.

“The Ministry of Finance and Treasury is working to create an enabling environment for investments in general, which I believe is a concern of a lot of investors,” she added.

Meanwhile, Maldives-based representatives from the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) present at the conference pledged their continued support in an effort to attract renewable energy investors.

ADB Director Mr Yongping Zhai pledged to “go as far as it costs” to transform Maldives into a renewable energy dependent country, as opposed to oil dependent, according to the Environment Ministry.

However, he noted that although the Maldives has the commitment, market potential, resources, and willing investors for renewable energy, there is a “missing link to put these pieces together”.

“In theory things should work, but why things are not working so far is [the lack of] the right business model,” said Zhai. “That’s the purpose of this conference and of the ADB’s work.”

The WB considered the conference to be a “good initial first information gathering” event for facilitating renewable energy investments and emphasized that it was working very closely with the Maldives government to develop the energy sector and national financial institutions, said WB Senior Energy Specialist Abdulaziz Faghi.

In an effort to boost investor confidence, the Environment Ministry emphasised the WB would guarantee any investments made in the Maldives.

“One of the issues facing the private sector investing in any sector is the payment guarantee and their concern with the return on investment,” State Minister for Environment and Energy Abdul Matheen Mohamed told Minivan News yesterday.

He explained that the government of Maldives has allocated US$5 million from the International Development Association (IDA) financing though the World Bank, which will be leveraged up to US$ 25 million.

“So basically the World Bank will be issuing a guarantee for this amount to give guarantees to the investors investing [funds] under the scaling-up renewable energy program (SREP) investment plan,” said Matheen.

He noted that conference participants concerns have “been resolved though the guarantee facilities introduced by the World Bank”.

Foreign investors lacking

Following the conference yesterday, Renewable Energy Maldives Managing Director Dr Ibrahim Nashid told Minivan News that he believed banks and foreign investors crucial to revitalising the national energy “didn’t turn up” at the event.

“The main idea was to bring investors here, but I don’t think that has happened,” said Nashid.

He explained that while Maldives-based institutional representatives from the WB, ADB, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and various other Maldivian institutions attended the conference, individuals with authority to authorize lending and/or donor funds were not present.

“Basically there wasn’t any financial institution that could give the finance or lend the money,” said Nashid. “No international banks came and what is very noticeable there wasn’t Indian investors. Not a single Indian company was represented.”

“ADB was saying they have earmarked funds for the Maldives, but their idea was also to leverage that with some other lending institution and that was not there,” he added.

Nashid noted that none of the Maldivian banks were present at the conference.

“The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) was there, but not the Islamic Bank in Male’, even the Bank of Maldives didn’t attend,” said Nashid.

“It shows the confidence that everybody has, [which is] the reason the World Bank is talking about giving a bank guarantee,” he continued.

Although Minister Shakeela was asked many times about what the government would do to guarantee investments “she skirted the question saying the ADB and WB is giving the guarantee,” according to Nashid.

“That was not the issue, the issue is what happens to our investments,” he said. “The GMR case is very very open and obvious to everyone. The issue of political instability was very much skirted, [but] everybody knew.”

Nashid claimed that most conference participants who discussed renewable energy investments said a decision would not happen until after the presidential election scheduled for September.

“We need political stability here, without political stability I don’t think any project is going to take off,” said Nashid.

“We can do the preparation of paperwork, etc. but money will not be put on the table. That’s the message we get from abroad,” he added.

These sentiments were echoed by conference participants representing various private sector businesses.

“It was a good start, but this is really just a beginning. There were not very many investors present,” an infrastructure company representative told Minivan News on condition of anonymity.

“The three things investors are looking for are credibility, stability, and return on the investment,” a telecommunications company representative told Minivan News on condition of anonymity.

The source explained that political instability was the main concern preventing investors from committing to renewable energy development. He also agreed with another conference participant’s observation that political instability in the Maldives was the ‘elephant in the room’ at the event.

“There were very few investors present, which is not surprising. No one is going to be eager to invest [in developing renewable energy] until after elections,” he added.

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Health Protection Agency warns of viral fever in Male’

In light of what it claims is a rapid spread of viral fever in Male’, the Maldives Health Protection Agency (HPA) issued a warning Sunday (June 16) urging the public to take precautionary measures.

Local media quoted HPA Epidemiologist Dr Aishath Aroona as saying that those who contract fever were advised to avoid crowded places, cover their mouth when coughing or sneezing, and consult a doctor if the fever persists for more than three days.

“Increasing viral fever is a sign of spread of dengue. Hence the best way to counteract dengue is to guard against breeding grounds for mosquitoes,” Aroona told Haveeru.

Amidst concerns about recent growth in the number of cases of viral fever and increase in patients at both ADK and Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), the HPA has refused to label the current situation as an epidemic, according to local media.

“Such spread of fever is always common in June and July. Now only we’re starting to see it. So everyone must take precautionary measures,” said Aroona.

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Maldives achieves 5 of 8 Millennium Development Goals

The Maldives has achieved all but three of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), local media has reported.

However, the country must do more to promote gender equality and empowering women, ensuring environmental sustainability, and creating global partnerships for development, according to Haveeru.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) made the announcement Monday (June 18), adding that the Maldives’ country report on the MDGs will be released this year.

The last report on the Maldives’ progress in trying to achieve the eight MDGs was published in 2010.

Thus far, the Maldives has achieved the MDGs of universal primary education, reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal health, as well as combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

However, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently announced that the Maldives has also met part of the goal to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by halving the percentage of hungry people in the country.

The MDGs are a blueprint agreed upon by all the world’s countries and leading development institutions to galvanize efforts to meet needs of the world’s poorest, with the achievement target date of 2015.

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Three Burmese nationals rescued after jumping overboard

Three Burmese expats who jumped off a boat to get to Male’ have been rescued, report police.

In a statement today, police said the three men jumped off the boat in an attempt to leave the country and return to Myanmar, after their employer failed to pay their wages for three months.

Police said the men were found in the sea by a small dingy that was out fishing this morning at 5:30am.

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Elections Commission delays publishing amended voter registry

The Elections Commission (EC) has said it has been forced to delay the publication of an amended voter registry for September’s presidential election as a result of the number of complaints filed by the public.

The amended list of voters was originally due to have been published today in the government gazette.

EC Vice President Ahmed Fayaz said that despite the delay, the commission was in “full swing” with its preparations for the presidential election scheduled for September 7. He added that the commission was presently working to address a number of concerns, including assuring that the legitimate electorate were not deprived of their right to vote due to preventable issues.

According to the latest EC records, the electorate presently consists of 240,302 individuals – 31,008 more voters than the number of participants in the 2008 presidential election.

The statistics indicate that 123,565 males and 116,737 females are presently eligible to vote on September 7.

Voter registry to be “hopefully complete by week’s end”

Thaufeeq informed local media that the commission had received 2,790 complaints based on the initial voter registry, adding that verifying these complaints had proved to be highly time consuming.

“When we are verifying complaints about deceased people being listed in the voter registry, sometimes we need to actually send staff to the addresses in question to carry out verification of the claims. It’s this verification process that is taking up time,” he was quoted as saying.

Thaufeeq stated that with the commission’s staff working day and night to complete the required amendments to the voter registry, he remained hopeful that the final list would be published by the end of the week.

Thaufeeq further called on citizens and political parties to extend their cooperation in checking whether the amended list had addressed the previously lodged complaints.

“It is also very important that each individual checks the voter registry within five days after it is published to ensure that their details are correctly included in it,” he continued.

Previously, EC President Thaufeeq stated that the commission was confident the voter registry would be completed by a deadline of June 14.

He said at the time that the amendment of the voter registry had gone “better than expected”, despite challenges remaining in notifying all the complainants about the changes made to the list, as is required according to regulations.

Ballot boxes

The EC said it estimated approximately 500 ballot boxes would need to be set up for the vote on September 7.

“As per our current estimate, 495 ballot boxes will need to be set up countrywide, but that number may still increase,” Thaufeeq was quoted as telling local media.

According to the existing EC plans, 122 ballot boxes will be placed in Male’ City: 48 for citizens registered in Male’, and an additional 74 for citizens registered in other islands who live in Male’. While ballot boxes are to be placed in other inhabited islands, 55 tourist resorts will also have polling booths stationed in them.

Resorts which do not have a minimum of 50 eligible voters working in it will not have a dedicated polling booth. Instead, the Elections Commission is appealing to management of such resorts to allow staff to travel to the nearest island to place their votes.

Additionally, all jails and detention centres in the country will have ballot boxes, as well as other nations which have a minimum of 100 Maldivian citizens living in them. These countries are said to include India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and the UK.

Concerns pending solutions

EC Vice President Ahmed Fayaz has however expressed concern that the identity cards of hundreds of inmates will have expired prior to voting day.

“We have been discussing the issue with them. The renewal of identity card requires a fee to be paid, and the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services have told us that they do not have sufficient funds to carry out ID renewals for the inmates,” Fayaz said.

“In the end, the only viable solution is for the concerned state authorities to find a solution for this,” he said.

Political parties contesting in the upcoming election have previously spoken to Minivan News about their respective concerns over registration and identity card renewal ahead of the vote.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s Membership and Campaign Committee member Ahmed Shahid spoke of such concerns, alleging that based on the current situation, “it doesn’t seem as though the state is really trying to solve the issues prior to the elections”.

“From the information we have gathered, we understand that approximately 40,000 identity cards will expire before September 7. According to the the information we have, the Department of National Registration has the capacity to issue about 350 or so cards a day. This suggests that the 40,000 people from the electorate will not all be able to get the cards renewed before the elections,” Shahid said at the time.

Earlier this month, Government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Ahmed Nihan said the party was continuing to come across issues within the recently published election registry due to incorrect information and the inclusion of voters now believed to be deceased.

He said that with an estimated third of the population also having moved from their home islands to the capital in recent years, correct registration would be another vital issue in the lead up to September.

Nihan claimed the EC therefore “has a lot of work to do” in the lead up to September to ensure its database of registered voters was both up-to-date and correct.

“The government also has to try and provide the funds for the EC and also participate with international stakeholders to get the assistance to ensure elections are free and fair,” he said.

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Asian Express crew return to Maldives

The Maldivian crew of the MV Asian Express cargo ship, which sank off the coast of India last week, returned safely to the country yesterday (June 15), the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has confirmed.

MNDF Spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem said today that all 18 Maldivian nationals on the ship’s 22-member crew had returned to the country “in good health”.

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

In addition to engine trouble, the vessel suffered a two-to-three-metre vertical crack on its starboard side below the waterline and a failed communication system before sinking.

The ship’s owners yesterday told local media that they had decided to sell the 35 year-old ship just before the incident occurred.

“We decided to sell the boat not because of its condition, but due to its small size and high maintenance cost. An Indian living in Dubai has offered to buy it,” Ahmed Saleem, shipping manager of Apollo Holdings, was quoted as saying in Haveeru.

After its crew had been 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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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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