The State Trading Organization (STO) has today signed an agreement with Allied Insurance to develop a 10 story shopping building to be named ‘Umar Shopping Arcade.”
In a statement issued today the STO said that the project of building the building had been awarded to Amin Construction Pvt Ltd.
STO said that that building was designed by Arcade Pvt Ltd and the building would have to be completed in 12 months according to the project.
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(0)A contract to provide lighting for Fuvahmulah airport has been awarded to a Sri Lankan company, local media reports.
The MVR4.5million project will make it possible to land planes in the southern atoll at all hours, with the airport currently the only one in the country where this is not possible.
Sun Online reports that President Dr Mohamed Waheed will travel to Fuvamulah tomorrow to inaugurate the project, which is expected to be complete in three months.
The airport, owned by the State Trading Organisation, was opened in 2011, increasing access to one of the most isolated areas of the country.
(0)Dislikes(0)Lawyers for the government-owned State Trading Organisation (STO) claimed in the Civil Court today that original documents of business transactions with Dhivehi Qaumee Party (MP) Riyaz Rasheed’s Meridian Services had been stolen, reports Haveeru.
At today’s hearing of STO’s lawsuit against Meridian seeking to recover MVR 19.3 million (US$1.2 million) released as credit, the company’s lawyers said the theft of the documents from the STO office occurred on October 27, 2011 and were reported to police at the time.
The lawyer reportedly requested the opportunity to present witnesses to prove the authenticity of copies or other records of the stolen documents.
However, lawyers for the Vilufushi MP’s Meridian Services disputed the authenticity of the purchase orders, delivery notices and invoices submitted as evidence by STO, claiming the documents were forged.
The Meridian lawyer claimed that there were discrepancies in the purchase orders and delivery notes with inconsistent numbers and quantities as well as lack of signatures.
In response, the STO lawyer said Meridian had not submitted any evidence or a statement challenging the validity of the evidence submitted by STO.
The judge adjourned the hearing after announcing that a decision would be made at the next hearing over STO’s request to present witnesses.
On April 26, 2012, the STO issued a press statement announcing that it would file a case at Civil Court to recover MVR 19,333,671.20 (US$1,253,804.88) allegedly unpaid by Meridian Services.
STO and Meridian Services signed an oil trade agreement on March 31, 2010, which offered the company a credit facility worth MVR 20 million (US$ 1,297,016.86) for purchasing oil from STO, stipulating that payments had to be made within a period of 40 days.
However, in August 2010, STO lowered its credit limit from MVR 20 million to MVR 10 million (US$648,508.43) and shortened the payment period from 40 to 30 days, prompting Meridian Services to sue STO for alleged breach of contract.
Meridian Services however lost the first case after Civil Court Judge Abdulla Jameel Moosa ruled in favor of STO.
(0)Dislikes(0)The State Trading Organisation (STO) has announced that a 17,000 tonne shipment of aggregate and river sand will be imported to the Maldives in April.
The announcement follows recent concerns made by the company over its dwindling stocks of both materials, after India revoked its quota to export the material to the Maldives.
Managing Director of STO Shahid Ali told local media that the company is “quite sure” a 17,000 tonne shipment of aggregate and river sand will be brought in early next month.
Local media reported that the shipment will be coming from both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
(0)Dislikes(0)Construction companies in the Maldives have said they are experiencing a shortage in the supply of aggregate and river sand.
Under a special quota from the Indian government, aggregate was imported to the Maldives from India. However the quota was temporarily revoked on February 15.
Managing Director of State Trading Organisation (STO) – one of the main suppliers of construction materials – Shahid Ali, told local media on Wednesday (March 21) that the company has a limited supply of aggregate and river sand left in its storage.
“Our aggregate and river sand stock is quite low. So we are currently supplying to government projects only. We don’t really have enough for sale,” Shahid was quoted as saying in local media.
According to STO Managing Director, the company is currently carrying out talks with parties in Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh to acquire the products.
(0)Dislikes(0)The state-owned Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has settled US$7.5 (MVR115 million) in outstanding jet fuel charges.
The payments, owed to the State Trading Organisation (STO), were left outstanding from before the government opted last November to void a contract with Infrastructure group GMR to manage and develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).
A deadline for payment of the bills had reportedly been set by the STO for December 2012, but was delayed after Singapore’s Supreme Court overturned an injunction blocking the Maldivian government from voiding its sovereign agreement with GMR.
STO Managing Director Managing Director Shahid Ali has said that after the state-owned MACL took over management of the site from GMR late last year, it also took on the developer’s existing contracts and therefore had been required to pay the outstanding fuel charges, local Newspaper Haveeru reported.
MACL is requested to pay a further US$2.5 million (MVR38.3 million) in unpaid fuel bills.
According to local media, GMR had signed a US$150 million (MVR2.3 billion) jet fuel supply deal in March last year that is set to expire in April 2013.
(0)Dislikes(0)A large portion of the national budget had been “managed through the cash flow” of the State Trading Organisation (STO), the Auditor General’s Office has said, revealing the state-owned enterprise is owed MVR 1.45 billion (US$94 million) in overdue bills from government companies and state institutions.
In his professional opinion (Dhivehi) on the proposed 2013 budget submitted to parliament’s Budget Review Committee and made public this week, Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim stated that the “state’s cash flow was being managed through STO”.
“This shows that state expenditure is managed outside of the state budget, that this is an ‘off balance sheet’ finance arrangement and that the actual deficit will be much higher than stated in the state budget,” the Auditor General’s report to parliament stated.
The Auditor General stated that the practice was “worrying” and recommended changes to current treasury management “to put an end to depending on a government-owned company to manage the state’s cash flow.”
STO is a public company with an 81.6 percent stake owned by the government. The company was set up in 1964 to import and supply staple foodstuffs and fuel at controlled prices.
In its report to parliament, the Auditor General’s Office revealed that STO was owed MVR 398 million (US$25.8 million) in overdue payments from state institutions and government companies for goods released on credit.
Of the outstanding amount for items purchased on credit, the Finance Ministry owed MVR 388.1 million (US$25.1 million), according to the findings.
In addition, the Male’ Health Corporation (MHC) owes MVR99.4 million (US$6.4 million), Gan Airport Company owes MVR 61.8 million (US$4 million), Southern Utilities Ltd owes MVR 75.6 million (US$4.9 million), the State Electricity Company (STELCO) owes MVR 53 million (US$3.4 million) and the Works Corporation owes MVR 10.1 million (US$654,993).
Moreover, Fuel Supply Maldives, a subsidiary of STO, was owed MVR 186.2 million (US$12 million) for oil released on credit, mainly from government utility companies, the report added.
As a consequence, STO was owed a total of MVR 1.45 billion (US$94 million) in overdue bills, including outstanding bills worth MVR 289 million (US$18 million) from 2011 and MVR 8.2 million (US$531,776) from 2010 and earlier.
A total of MVR 1.15 billion (US$74 million) is owed to STO from overdue bills in 2012, according to a statement shared by the Finance Ministry showing STO’s receivables.
The government’s health insurance company ‘Aasandha’ meanwhile owed STO MVR 18 million (US$1.1 million) in overdue bills, the report noted.
The figures also showed that state institutions and government companies were “heavily dependent on STO’s working capital” to function.
“And as a result of not receiving millions of rufiyaa owed to STO from the state, STO has not paid any dividends to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury since 2009,” the Auditor General revealed.
In November 2011, the government sold five plots of land measuring 87,155.2 square feet to STO for MVR 522.9 million (US$33.9 million) and deducted the amount from monies owed to STO.
“This was carried out by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury following deliberations by the cabinet and based on the advice of the cabinet,” the Auditor General noted.
The Auditor General contended that the sale was in violation of amendments brought to the Public Finance Act in 2010, which stipulated that state assets and property must be sold in accordance with a law passed by parliament.
The plots were sold to STO in the absence of a law governing the sale of state properties.
“Therefore, we note that it is important to further investigate how this transpired and that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury’s plans to settle payments owed to STO from the government must be clarified before the budget is passed,” the Auditor General recommended.
(0)Dislikes(0)The State Trading Organisation (STO) has today announced an immediate reduction in the retail prices of diesel and petrol “as a result of favourable change in cost of most recent shipments.”
The new retail prices of diesel and petrol per litre are MVR16.23 and MVR16.42, respectively.
(0)Dislikes(0)Representatives of several government-aligned parties are divided on whether to support removing Shahid Ali from his position as Managing Director (MD) of both the State Trading Organisation (STO) and Addu International Airport over his alleged political beliefs.
The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) said this week it not made any sort of decision over removing Shahid from the positions he presently held and had not been aware of any such motion to remove him, though added any eventual decision would need to be “justified”. Jumhoree Party (JP) Deputy Leader Abdulla Jabir said his party would support the STO MD, while also warning against the politicisation of key business positions and deals across the nation.
The comments were made as the Interim Vice President of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Abdul Raheem Abdulla told local media that parties within the present coalition government sought to remove Shahid from his posts for allegedly being a member of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Earlier this week, Jumhoree Party (JP) Leader and MP for Alif Dhaal Maamigili MP, Gasim Ibrahim warned Shahid that he would be sacked from his post at the STO if an agreement was signed to sell a 30 percent stake in the Addu International Airport Company Ltd (AIACL) to Kasa Holdings. The sale was confirmed a day later.
During a televised appearance on private broadcaster Dhi TV on Wednesday, Abdul Raheem claimed that calls to replace Shahid were not related to the controversial sale of the shares in Addu International Airport (AIA), newspaper Haveeru reported.
Instead he said that the motion was based around concerns about having a figure he claimed was allegedly linked to the opposition MDP in a senior position of a state-owned company, claiming such an appointment was “unacceptable”, according to media reports.
Abdul Raheem went on to accuse Shahid of spending money to help fund a recent campaign trip by former President Mohamed Nasheed in Addu during the program.
PPM Deputy Leader Umar Naseer and Party Spokesperson Ahmed Mahloof were not answering calls at the time of press.
Independence
Responding to the PPM’s criticism, JP Deputy Leader Abdulla Jabir said that Shahid was a “professional” and “highly technical” MD, adding both he and his party would not back any attempts to remove him.
Jabir also played down claims Shahid was politically tainted or biased in his work.
“We should keep independent people in business as much as possible, we need good people like him right now,” he told Minivan News. “STO is a huge company with many employees and he has done a very good job, I support him and our party will support him.”
Jabir also requested that Maldivians avoid trying to politicise business and economic matters in the Maldives that could impact on the investment climate within the country.
Last month, Jabir also hit out at what he claimed were attempts by some of the JP’s coalition partners to try and “politicise” a dispute between the government and India-based GMR over an agreement to develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) – fearing a negative impact on foreign investment.
Meanwhile, DRP Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef told Minivan News today that it had not been made aware of any decision to remove Shahid from either of his MD posts. He also expressed caution over making a potential scapegoat out of Shahed over concerns owing to the Addu airport sale.
Shareef said that before taken any potential position on the matter, the party would need to investigate if there was any possible reason to dismiss Shahid, claiming the party would not back any cause raised by coalition partners unless it was “justified”.
“However, I do not think a deal such as [selling shares] in Addu International Airport can be taken by one person alone,” he added, referring to Shahid.
Responding to the PPM’s reported concerns of potentially giving positions in government-owned companies to opposition figures or supporters, Shareef claimed that the coalition had been founded on a policy of not discriminating along party lines.
“It is important to remember that President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan invited the MDP to join his coalition government – an invite they declined,” he claimed. “However, that said, the government was to invite capable people from anywhere to join us even from MDP. We have nothing against the MDP.”
Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) Leader Dr Hassan Saeed and Secretary general Abdulla Ameen were not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.
Coveted post
Back in August, an audio clip allegedly of Deputy CEO of Maldives Ports Limited, Ahmed Faiz, was leaked and then aired on opposition-aligned Raajje TV, alluding to significant interest in replacing Shahid Ali within the STO.
In the transcript, which Faiz confirmed was authentic but re-cut and edited together, he appeared to allege that PPM Parliamentary Group Leader Abdulla Yameen had offered financial incentives to replace the STO MD.
“The first post that was guaranteed to a person in this government was one that I had asked for, that is the post of Managing Director at STO, the one in which that Shahid Ali is. That is something I did in my interest, and I swear, it is something I myself did. There is no one who hasn’t been coveting that post. I was offered five hundred thousand dollars to get Shahid Ali replaced by a person of Yameen’s choice. I said to him… what he said to me even at the beginning is that if you are uncomfortable by this, then we shall treat this as a conversation that never happened, and I replied saying this never happened,” Faiz claims in the audio.
“I said this conversation never happened. Yameen said it never happened. And that was it, I got up and walked away. That (expletive) said to someone nearby that I am a very dangerous (expletive). Now I’ve told you of some of the problems in this government.”
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