Six people accused of planning to smuggle contraband into jail were arrested from a Hiya flat in Hulhumalé. The police found 18 mobile phones, 28 chargers, 28 headsets, 10 memory cards and 12 SIM cards.
The police placed senior officials of the children’s home in Vilimalé under investigation in connection with four fire incidents that occurred there last year. The investigation was requested by the Children’s Ombudsperson’s office over the absence of mandatory fire safety equipment. Children aged 13 to 18 who lived at the home were relocated to centres built in other atolls last year. The Vilimalé centre is now used to provide sanctuary to the elderly and victims of domestic violence.
The first hearing in Youth Minister Ahmed Mahloof’s bribery trial was cancelled by the presiding judge and not the council comprised of all criminal court judges, a spokesman clarified to the media. The court’s announcement that the trial would begin after Covid-19 cases decline drew criticism as other trials are ongoing.
The Addu City Council invited applications for 37 three-bedroom flats built in Hulhudhoo island under a government housing project.
The home ministry issued a one-month notice to deregister 51 inactive newspapers, magazines and websites if they do not resume publishing regularly. Some 268 publications were registered at the ministry as of September 2021.
A preliminary hearing of former president Abdulla Yameen’s bribery and money laundering trial took place at the criminal court. The defendant’s plea will be entered at the next hearing on February 10, after which the court will start hearing witness testimony in July ahead of a verdict on November 25, Judge Ahmed Shakeel announced.
The opposition leader is accused of accepting a US$1 million bribe to lease Vaavu Aarah island for resort development.
The transport ministry advised sea vessels to steer clear of platforms set up south of Vilimalé, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi in preparation for building a 6.7km overwater bridge to connect the islands with the capital. The US$500 million Greater Malé Connectivity Project financed with Indian loans and grant aid was awarded to Indian developer Afcons Infrastructure last August. The company began work on a geotechnical survey this week at the industrial village in Malé’s southwest harbour.
A Bangladeshi man was found guilty of murdering a 57-year-old local businessman on Alif Dhaalu Dhagethi island last October. Mahmoud Abubakuru’s body was found inside a well. Shah Alom Mia, known as Salim, confessed in court to killing the victim during an attempted robbery.
The Maldives fell three points in Transparency International’s annual global Corruption Perception Index, which scores countries based on their perceived level of public sector corruption. This year’s lower score reflects failure to tackle grand corruption along with “weak investigation, prosecution, enforcement, and implementation of laws resulting in increased lack of accountability of political and public officials,” the anti-corruption NGO’s local chapter observed.
There were 2,399 marriages and 1,192 divorces in 2021, the family court revealed. More than MVR50 million (US$3.2 million) was collected as child support and alimony payments.
New rules were gazetted for registering the birth of children born to Maldivians in war zones, allowing for citizenship and birth registration after a court decision.
On the same day, the family court concluded the first case filed by a Maldivian woman to establish legal parentage of two children born in Syria, the media reported. The court ruled that she was the mother of the two girls based on a DNA maternity test done by the police.
According to the police, 173 Maldivians were known to have joined terrorist organisations in Syria and Iraq as of December 2019, many of whom were killed in battle. Of 59 Maldivians left in Syria at the time, 91 percent were women and children. Lack of identification documents for children was the main obstacle to bringing back widows who wanted to return.
A leading light of the local tech community, Ahmed Riyazi Mohamed, known as Daadi, passed away suddenly in Malaysia, prompting an outpouring of grief on social media. The 38-year-old reportedly died while exercising after receiving the booster vaccine. He was product lead of the Kuala Lumpur-based LottieFiles animation company co-founded by a group of Maldivian web developers.
