Raajje News Blog

#Maldives: The scale and range of corruption rampant in the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed is only now being brought to light as the Auditor General reports on Nasheed's various Ministries and Government projects. In his report to the Parliament last November on a Harbor Project for Haa Dhaalu Kumundhoo, the Auditor General reported that the Nasheed Government had paid the contractor, Heavy Load Maldives, nearly 12 million Mrf in excess of the contracted amount of Mrf 10.3 million. Heavy Load Maldives is owned by MDP's Interim Chairman Reeko Moosa Maniku, MDP MP for Hulhu-Henveyru. The Auditor General reported that, by giving various unsubstantiated reasons, Heavy Load had stopped work on the project from 12 June 2008 to 7 Februay 2009. However, within months of coming to power, the Nasheed Government had paid Heavy Load over Mrf 4.7 million for this period, calling it "idle time", although the delays were on the contractor's side. In this...

#Maldives: Parliament's Finance Committee told media last week that the Auditor General had reported over 55 million MRF state funds had been given by former President Mohamed Nasheed's government to various parties without receiving any services or goods in return for the payment. The three cases totalling over 55 million MRF involved high ranking officials of Nasheed's party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). One case involved Mrf 12.7 million paid by the Health Ministry to a company called F-Tech Solutions to supply medical supplies. F-Tech Solutions was owned by high ranking MDP officials, one of its Director's and Human Resources Officer being a Ms. Fathimath Shiuna (aka "Prepaid Shiuna), a leading MDP activist working closely with Nasheed. "Prepaid" Shiuna is reported to be Nasheed's personal secretary. Another F-Tech director, Riluwan Shareef, is also a leading member of the MDP. 'Prepaid' Shiuna also fronted a successful bid for a ...

#Maldives: November 3rd, 2012 marks the 24th anniversary of the bloody massacre that left the blackest of stains on Maldivian hearts and history. Nineteen innocent Maldivians were slaughtered and several injured. Hundreds were held at gunpoint for hours, many later taken away as hostages. Immense damage was given to public and private property. Maldives was rescued by troops sent by Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi. The leader of the failed coup was a man called Sikka Ahmed Ismail Maniku, a man who had previous convictions for coup attempts against previous governments. The coup leader's nephew, Mohamed Nasheed, was installed as President in 2008, at the head of a political party whose top leadership comprised of family members and others involved in the 1988 November 3 massacre. Nasheed's cabinet, senior political advisors and state ministers included terrorists convicted for their involvement in the November 3 massacre. As Nasheed denounces the current government of Dr. Mohame...

#Maldives: The Parliament's Counsel General Fathimath Filza told media today that the impeachment motion against President Mohamed Waheed by opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is legitimate and can be put on the agenda accordingly. According to the Counsel General, the motion meets the criteria set out in Section 100 (b) of the Constitution. Section 100 (b) stipulates that the impeachment resolution as provided for in subsection (a) of the same Section, must be submitted to the Parliament (People’s Majlis), under the hand of at least one third of the members (amounting to 26 members presently), specifying the reasons. The motion was submitted to the Parliament on October 10th, signed by 28 MPs of the MDP, thereby meeting the criteria of number of MPs required to table the resolution. An impeachment motion requires a 2/3 majority of the Parliament to vote in favor of the motion. With the current composition of the Parliament, presuming that a member would be elected to th...

#Maldives: Four senior members of former President Nasheed's administration were culpable is a MRF 24 million scam, Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim told the Parliamentary subcommittee on Finance yesterday. The individuals named included two high profile members of former President Nasheed's party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) who had been given political posts when Nasheed came into power. They were Ahmed Assad, the younger brother of Nasheed's Housing Minister and close confidante Aslam and Abdulla Shahid (pic), one of the 11 involved in the November 3rd coup led by Nasheed's uncle Sikka Ahmed Ismail Maniku in 1988. Assad had filled the post of State Minister of Finance in Nasheed's government, while Abdulla Shahid had been State Minister of Defence. The scam involved embezzlement of state funds amounting to MRF 24 million, paid from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury for falsified invoices for services claimed to have been rendered to the National Centre fo...

#Maldives: Pressure is mounting on President Mohamed Waheed to implement the death penalty in Maldives as the murder toll in 2012 rose to nine murders earlier this month. A youth group yesterday announced a rally calling for death penalty, scheduled for the afternoon of Friday 19th October. Calls for death penalty increased exponentially after the brutal murder of Member of Parliament and moderate Muslim scholar Dr. Afraasheem Ali on October 2, 2012. Social media report that support for death penalty in Maldives rose to 64% of Maldivians on social media in the wake of Dr. Afraasheem's brutal murder. The list of murder victims is 18 victims long, from 2007 onwards (pic). Of these 11 murders were committed on the capital Male', the rest on various islands. Fourteen of the 18 murder victims were young adults between 15 and 35 years of age. MP Dr. Afraasheem's murder comes within three months of the brutal murder and decapitation of famous lawyer Ahmed Najeeb, also on th...

#Maldives: The current political struggle in the Maldives has been grossly oversimplified and wrongly reported by some foreign powers and foreign media as a military coup that put back in power the government of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. An unbiased look at the facts of the popular non-violent struggle that led to the transfer of power on February 7th shows that it was neither a coup, nor was it an illegal ouster of a "democratic" leader. Rather, it reveals the triumph of the Maldivian people over an increasingly dictatorial leader, Mohamed Nasheed, a man who had repeatedly violated the Constitution. Fortunately for the citizens of this highly vulnerable country, their struggle has been recognized by the world powers that continue to keep a close eye on the Maldives, namely India and the United States. Nasheed's sudden claim of a military coup, over 24 hours after his public resignation telecast on all local television stations, has been blamed on his close...