The Jumhooree Party formally awarded its presidential ticket to Qasim Ibrahim at a sparsely-attended rally in Malé.
As advised by the party’s national congress in late February, the JP’s council decided to contest September’s presidential election, rejecting President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s invitation to remain in the Maldivian Democratic Party-led coalition.
In his speech, Qasim urged voters to “test out” a third option after choosing MDP and Progressive Party of Maldives-led governments in the past three elections.
Hailed as the “kingmaker”, Qasim’s support was pivotal in securing victories for the MDP and PPM.
But unlike 2008 and 2013, the JP leadership hopes the business magnate’s third run could prove successful because the two main parties are weakened. The opposition lacks a candidate with former president Abdulla Yameen in jail and the MDP remains divided after Speaker Mohamed Nasheed’s loyalists resigned en masse to form a new party.
Negotiations on partnering with Nasheed’s breakaway faction of the MDP have failed, Qasim revealed earlier this month, confirming his rejection of Nasheed’s proposal for holding a public referendum on switching to a parliamentary system as a condition for endorsing the JP candidate. The former president wanted the JP to “pave the way for returning to power” as prime minister, Qasim said.
Majority Leader Mohamed Aslam insisted that a no-confidence motion filed against Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla must proceed as scheduled. The impeachment motion was tabled in the agenda for next Sunday’s sitting – the date when the 14-day notice period expires – but parliament’s secretary general informed MPs that it has been removed until the general affairs committee could be reconstituted. The parliament’s rules require the committee to allocate time for debating the motion.
Standing committees have not been functioning since 13 MPs, including Eva, left the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party to form a new party. As the composition of committees is based on the representation of political parties in parliament, their resignation from the MDP necessitated a committee membership reshuffle.
Briefing the press, MDP parliamentary group leader Aslam said talks continued on Thursday morning over the reconstitution of committees. But an agreement has not been reached with opposition lawmakers over the composition of the general affairs committee.
Aslam argued that the minority’s refusal to agree should not prevent the committee from holding a meeting and determining the procedure for Eva’s no-confidence motion, calling on the secretary general to facilitate a committee meeting. Parliament’s standing orders state that no other work must be done without concluding a no-confidence motion when the notice period expires, he noted, accusing his former MDP colleagues of “bringing one branch of the state to a standstill.”
But Eva argued that the pro-government majority has “engineered a parliamentary deadlock” by submitting no-confidence motions against both the speaker and deputy speaker.
Four Maldivian crew members of Fuel Supply Maldives ships that were seized in Eritrea en route from Egypt have been brought back to the country, the state-owned company told state media.
Two new vessels – which were commissioned by the FSM for MVR22 million (US$1.4 million) and built by an Egyptian company – were stopped by the Eritrean army after entering the East African country’s waters due to bad weather on 26 May. The boats were accused of illegal encroachment but FSM said efforts had been made to seek permission from Eritrean authorities. A privately-owned oil tanker was also stopped along with the FSM boats.
The High Court began hearings in the appeal of former president Abdulla Yameen’s 11-year imprisonment on bribery and money laundering charges.
Yameen was found guilty on December 25 of accepting a bribe from former lawmaker Yoosuf Naeem to arrange the no-bid lease of Vaavu Aarah. The former MP for Vaavu Felidhoo was also convicted of bribery and sentenced to three years, two months and 12 days in prison.
At Wednesday’s hearing, a three-judge panel at the High Court heard arguments from Naeem. His defence lawyer challenged the admissibility of new evidence submitted by the prosecution to counter claims made by defence witnesses. The criminal procedures law does not allow new evidence for the purpose of negating testimony, he argued. The appeal also questioned Yameen’s authority to have influenced the leasing of Aarah as claimed by the prosecution. The other points of appeal concerned the criminal court judge’s alleged refusals to grant sufficient time to speak about the evidence or hear arguments for a shorter sentence.
The appeal hearing concluded after the court heard rebuttals from state prosecutors.
Aarah case timeline:
- August 9, 2015 – Authority to lease Aarah transferred to tourism ministry
- August 13, 2015 – a company called 2G Pvt Ltd with a 99% stake owned by Yoosuf Naeem is created
- September 8, 2015 – 99% of shares in 2G Pvt Ltd sold to LA Resorts Pvt Ltd
- September 9, 2015 – Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) hands over Aarah to 2G. LA Resorts issues US$1 million cheque to the MMPRC as the island’s lease acquisition cost. A separate US$1 million cheque is issued to Naeem.
- September 13, 2015 – US$1 million cheque deposited to Naeem’s account
- September 15, 2015 – cheque for US$1 million issued by Naeem to then-president Yameen
- September 17, 2015 – US$1 million deposited to an account opened under Yameen’s name at HSBC.
Yameen and Naeem insisted the transaction was a sale of US dollars for Dhivehi Rufiyaa, claiming it was unrelated to the resort lease.
After the hearing, the Prosecutor General’s office accused Yameen of harassing prosecutors during a break in proceedings. Yameen was alleged to have expressed displeasure and told the four young attorneys that their arguments “doesn’t make any sense”. But the former president’s defence lawyer denied the claim. “He only asked a question as a joke,” Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed tweeted.
The opposition leader is also on trial on a separate charge of bribery and money laundering over the lease of Fuggiri island. Both cases stemmed from a corruption scandal in which US$90 million was stolen during his administration, the bulk of which was resort acquisition fees that were siphoned off through a private company. In the Fuggiri case, Yameen is accused of accepting a US$1.1 million bribe to lease the island for resort development. The Sun Construction and Sun Investment companies of resort tycoon Ahmed Siyam as well as businessman Ahmed Riza were charged as co-defendants.
Urbanco granted a seven-day period for two Hiya flat tenants who merged their apartments to start rebuilding the wall that was torn down.
Structural changes to the social housing units are prohibited. In early May, Urbanco – the state-owned developer of Hulhumale – slapped a fine of MVR100,000 (US$6,485) each on the two tenants and instructed them to rebuild the wall within 10 days. But the owners refused to comply and Urbanco issued a 14-day eviction notice. After failing to secure a court order to halt the eviction, the owners asked Urbanco for three months to rebuild the wall. If the rebuilding begins in the next week, a 90-day extension would be considered, an Urbanco official told Mihaaru.
The Maldives and Sri Lanka signed agreements for cooperation in health and cultural affairs and to establish a ‘Maldives Cultural Centre’ in Sri Lanka. The agreements were signed during the Fourth Session of the Maldives–Sri Lanka Joint Commission, which took place in Colombo.
A corpse was found floating in the sea near Hulhumalé. The deceased was a foreign national, who was dressed in a short-sleeved black t-shirt, black shorts and black shoes, the police said.
The body was later identified as a 34-year-old Chinese man who was employed by the Saudi Bin Ladin Group, the contractor of the Velana airport’s new terminal.
The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party’s parliamentary group decided to remove former president Mohamed Nasheed as speaker, citing the stalling of a no-confidence motion against the attorney general as the final straw.
MDP MPs blamed Nasheed for not calling a vote on the motion for three days as opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings with points of order and protests in the chamber.
Nasheed has repeatedly violated procedural rules but the MDP previously refrained from impeachment out of respect, Majority Leader Mohamed Aslam told the press. Patience has run out, he added.
The no-confidence motion was filed on Wednesday with the signatures of 54 MPs from the 87-member house, well above the simple majority needed to pass it. Excluding Nasheed, five MPs – Fonadhoo MP Moosa Siraj, Bilehdhoo MP Ahmed Haleem, Central Hithadhoo MP Ahmed Rasheed, Inguraidhoo MP Ahmed Hassan and Kulhudhuffushi North MP Jamsheed Mohamed – from the MDP’s 56-member parliamentary group did not sign the motion. Independent MPs Ibrahim Naseem, Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Jabir along with Maldives Development Alliance leader Ahmed Siyam Mohamed were also among the signatories.
Referring to the impending impeachment during Wednesday’s sitting, Nasheed said he was “impatient” to leave the speaker’s role and join debates as the MP for the Machchangoalhi Central constituency.
Nasheed remains the MDP president despite 13 loyalist MPs leaving the party to form The Democrats.
On Thursday, the government spokesman told the press that the MDP parliamentary group consulted with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih before moving to impeach Nasheed.
The criminal court continued hearing witness testimony in the murder trial of Filipino nurse Mary Grace, who is alleged to have been killed by her husband Marvin Vargas with help from his Maldivian lover Haleemath Lamha.
All three worked as nurses at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in the capital. The man is accused of assaulting and strangling his wife to death in the couple’s residence in Malé on 19 October 2021. The 24-year-old Maldivian woman was charged with aiding and abetting the murder.
Her death was initially reported by her husband as suicide by hanging. But suspicions of foul play prompted a police investigation and a postmortem determined head and neck injuries to have been the cause of death.
A paramedic nurse who went to the couple’s apartment when Marvin called an ambulance told the court during Tuesday’s hearing that she saw signs of asphyxiation and fingerprints on Mary’s neck.
After hearing testimony from three other IGMH staff, the judge denied the defence’s request to grant a 100-day conditional release for Lamha.
Last month, a friend and co-worker of the victim testified about Mary Grace learning of the affair when she checked her husband’s phone and discovered intimate messages and photos. But the couple’s relations improved later and Mary had appeared normal on the day of her death, according to the prosecution witness, who had worked with her on a duty shift.
A drug called succinylcholine used to induce paralysis was detected in a blood sample from the victim’s body. An empty bottle of succinylcholine along with a syringe and other controlled drugs were found in Lamha’s residence. Contrary to her denial, evidence also showed that Lamha had gone to the couple’s apartment shortly before the alleged murder, the prosecutor said at a previous hearing.
The Elections Commission denied any involvement in the alleged leak of membership forms filed by The Democrats for registration of the new party. The leak could not have come from a commission member or employee, the EC said.
The Democrats accused the government of using the leaked information to threaten members. According to a petition submitted to parliament by MP Hassan Latheef, the party’s founding member, government officials have been calling members and assuring that their pending housing or loan applications would be approved if they resigned from The Democrats.
The expansion of solar-powered electricity generation by 36 megawatts over the past four years resulted in savings of MVR270 million (US$17.5 million), which would have been spent on importing 17 million litres of fossil fuel, the president said at the official function to commemorate World Environment Day.
“The administration is implementing solar PV system installation projects on 113 islands throughout the country,” according to the president’s office.
The UNDP donated post-Covid care equipment to the health ministry through the ‘China-UNDP Triangular Cooperation Response to Covid-19 in the Asia and Pacific Region.’
In an unruly sitting of parliament, Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath defended himself against a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition, which accused him of forfeiting Maldivian territorial waters in a maritime boundary dispute with Mauritius over the neighbouring Chagos archipelago.
Riffath dismissed the allegations as baseless and politically motivated. The “highest interest of the state” was served in the advocacy at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, he insisted, accusing previous administrations of neglect over determining the country’s southern exclusive economic zone.
Opposition lawmakers repeatedly interrupted Riffath with points of order. Minority Leader Ahmed Saleem from the Progressive Party of Maldives questioned whether the two women who flanked Riffath were above 18 years of age. The AG office condemned the doubting of their capabilities as “gender-based discrimination and harassment.”
A vote was not called on the no-confidence motion amid protests by opposition lawmakers. On Tuesday, Speaker Mohamed Nasheed controversially parked the motion after an opposition MP filed a complaint accusing Riffath of violating parliamentary privileges by refusing to answer questions posed during the debate. Nasheed’s controversial decision prompted vociferous protests from Maldivian Democratic Party MPs, some of whom called him “Mugabe” and accused the former president of disregarding the rules of procedure for political ends.
Customs seized 10.14kg of heroin from a 25-year-old Pakistani man who arrived from Faisalabad. The street value of the drugs was estimated to exceed MVR13 million (US$843,060).
The drugs were discovered after customs officials at the airport grew suspicious, questioned the man and searched his luggage.
The Anti-Corruption Commission stopped the sale of a lagoon by Jumhooree Party leader Qasim Ibrahim’s Villa Group.
The watchdog stopped Villa’s sale of the Vaaveddhifalhu lagoon in Kaafu Atoll after a complaint was filed alleging wrongdoing.
Citing a Supreme Court precedent, lawyers questioned the ACC’s authority to halt business transactions.
The lagoon was leased for resort development during former president Abdulla Yameen’s administration. Villa successfully appealed to the Supreme Court to reclaim the lagoon after the government terminated the lease agreement.
Agreements were signed during the official visit of India’s External Affairs State Minister Vellamvelly Muraleedharanis to carry out 10 projects with Indian government assistance.
The projects include the development of outdoor gyms in Addu City, Gaaf Dhaal Vaadhoo and Haa Alif Dhidhdhoo; a running track in Shaviyani Milandhoo; school buses for Fuvahmulah City, Kulhudhuffushi City, Noonu Kendhikulhudhoo and Laamu Gan; school digitalisation in Laamu Atoll; new arts centre in Malé; mental health unit in Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo; and council office in Lhaviyani Hinnavaru. The projects are funded under the under the ‘High Impact Community Development Projects’ grant assistance scheme. Anti-TB medication gifted by the Indian government was also handed over during the ceremony.
On Saturday, the Indian state minister inaugurated three tourism zones in Addu City to be developed with grant aid of MVR23 million (US$1.4 million) from India.
In the southernmost atoll, Muraleedharan also attended groundbreaking ceremonies for the Gan International Airport development and Addu land reclamation projects, both of which are financed under a line of credit from the Indian EXIM Bank.
Kicking off a three-day visit to the southernmost atoll, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih inaugurated an MVR1.5 billion (US$97 million) land reclamation project in Addu City at the Hankede-Maradhoo intersection, which would expand the atoll’s landmass by 190 hectares. The project includes reclaiming 90 hectares in Hithadhoo, 76 hectares in Maradhoo Feydhoo, 3.3 hectares for new link roads, and creating three new artificial islands of 8.3 each for resort development.
“An additional investment of MVR179 million is planned to add 42 hectares of land to Hulhumeedhoo Island,” according to the president’s office.
The president, who is up for re-election in just over three months, pledged to add more than 7,000 tourist beds and transform the atoll to a “regional economic hub.” He highlighted the ongoing 67-kilometre asphalt road construction and the integrated tourism project in Hankede as well as work on a fisheries complex due to begin in July, which would double brine freezing capacity from 50 to 100 metric tons.
On Sunday, a US$27 million project was launched to expand the Gan International Airport to cater to 1.5 million passengers a year.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the president suggested that the “transformational development initiatives” of his administration would double the Maldivian economy in 10 years. He also pledged to raise the old age pension and revealed plans to develop a new airport on Beriyanfaru island in Raa Atoll.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the 18-month land reclamation project in Addu by the Dutch company Van Oord, 70,000 coral colonies from the areas to be dredged were relocated last week.
After the reclamation plans were announced in early 2022, environmental groups and civil society organisations urged the government to reconsider the project as an environmental impact assessment of incalculable loss to marine ecosystems. Dredging sand from the atoll seabed “will effectively destroy nature, biodiversity and the natural defences and resilience of the atoll,” one of the groups warned in a petition, calling on the authorities to “stop this ecocide and irreversible destruction of Addu Atoll.”
The Democrats, a new party formed by supporters of speaker Mohamed Nasheed, accused the government of “sending an agent provocateur” to hold up an ‘India Out’ banner during the 2 June rally. The party strongly condemned the “duplicitous act to try and portray last night’s rally as an event against any of our international partners,” and distanced itself from the opposition’s anti-India campaign.
The opposition Progressive Party of Maldives – which previously carried out the ‘India Out’ campaign against alleged Indian military presence in the Maldives – also accused the government of trying to divert attention by sending people to hold up the banner. As the organisers were prepared for such an incident, the protesters had been escorted out “without allowing any further disturbance,” the PPM said, condemning the “cowardly and uncivilised” attempt to break up the new coalition formed against the government’s alleged forfeiture of Maldivian territorial waters.
The government denied the allegations. The former political opponents were tricking each other, the president’s spokesman told the media.
According to The Democrats, the rally was organised to condemn the current administration’s lack of transparency and “underhanded and secretive dealings over the delimitation of the sea territory between the Maldives and Chagos.” The president was accused of “selling out of what was partly a Maldives’ ocean territory.”
