Shady resort deals and corruption of Dr Munavvar

Dr Munavvar is the president of Maldivian Democratic Party. He does not hide his ambition to be the president of Maldives. Maldivians have to revisit the ten years Dr Munavvar spent in the Cabinet of Gayoom (1993-2003) as Attorney General and investigate the allegations of corruption against him. Only a handful of articles have been published on those allegations. When Dr Munavvar joined MDP, he was welcomed with open arms by the existing leadership of MDP with the hope that Dr Munavvar will be a potent weapon against Gayoom. However, little effort did Munavvar make against the dictatorship of Gayoom. Instead, he built a small cult within MDP using the network of his past corruption and his alliance with shady tycoons. While Dr Munavvar was maneuvering his way into MDP leadership, opposition media refrained from publishing criticisms against him. My enemy’s enemy is my friend was the notion entertained by the MDP leadership. Little did they realize that one day Dr Munavvar would attempt to erase the sacrifices made by hundreds of Maldivian reformists and prcolaim to be the defender of democracy as he and his cronies attempted during their campaign rally on April 18.

However, allegations of Dr Munavvar’s corruption were already published before he was able to secure his position within MDP. This article published in MaldivesCulture.com gives a clear understanding of how Dr Munavvar used his position in government to secure resort deals for him and his friends. The article shows how Dr Munavvar used his position as Attorney General to inflict pain and subject several Maldivians to grave injustices. That theme has been already covered by this blog. In this post we are focusing on the trail of corruption and how resorts such as Velaavaru traded hands. The article was later republished in Maldives Today, with a few comments by Free Machine.

When that article was first published in July 2004 few people took the title “Ibrahim Zaki and Dr Munavvar: Gayoom’s Ministers for MDP” seriously. However, today blogs like Real Munavvar are reinforcing the notion that Munavvar is secretly conspiring with Gayoom. Excerpts from the article from MaldivesCulture.com:

Shabeer kept only Dhunikolhu island for himself, and he gave Velaavaru island to Zaki who in turn sold it to Champa Hussain Afeef. The case of Velaavaru island is unique. Maumoon Gayyoom knew that Zaki who was the head of the Tourism Ministry’s resort awarding committee, had manipulated the process to benefit from Sunland’s gaining of the three resorts. At one point, the case became very sensitive and Zaki had to seek the help of Gayyoom’s executive secretary Abdulla Shahid and the then Attorney General Dr. Mohamed Munavvar to ensure the case was laid to rest.

Champa Afeef paid US$500,000 each to Abdulla Shahid and Dr. Munavvar to ’settle things’, and Champa offered the same amount to Zaki. But Zaki wanted more than US$500,000 dollars and after some bickering, Champa who was desperate for Velaavaru island, promised to construct Zaki’s eight-storey house complete with a swimming pool on the terrace. Now Zaki was really happy.

However, Maumoon was not happy with Zaki siphoning off the three islands for himself, perhaps because Zaki had not shared the booty with his President. This case continued to haunt Zaki and may have been one of the reasons Maumoon deciding that Zaki was out of control and consequently removing him in November 2003.

While Ibrahim Hussain Zaki was the tourism minister, a total of 14 islands of the Maldives were put up to tender to be developed as tourist resorts. Zaki made substantial gains by receiving bribes from particular resort operators and he returned the favour by using his influence to award the resort islands to them.

Zaki and his family frequently spent vacations in Lohifushi Resort at the time. The owners of the resort entertained him well. In return, DIMMS shareholders Solih and Didi each received a resort. Long after the resorts were given, Zaki continued to receive cheques from DIMMS.

Zaki’s friend Dr Mohamed Munavvar, the Attorney General at the time, also visited resorts with Zaki and had drinking parties. Munavvar has family links with the Sunland group of resort operators. Out of the 14 islands, Sunland also received islands to develop as tourist resorts.

The article gives more details of Dr Munavvar’s abuse of the Cabinet portfolio.

Munavvar as Attorney General changed a lot of things in the amended 1997 constitution to increase the President Maumoon Gayyoom’s power. When Gayyoom removed the clause which stated that the president can only have two terms, Munavvar did not oppose it. This is just one example of many things Munavvar manipulated and twisted when he was Attorney General to further his own and Gayyoom’s interests.

Munavvar can also be very petty. He once sentenced one of his neighbours to many years exile to another island, after that man who lives next door to people close to Munavvar accidentally picked a breadfruit from the ‘wrong tree’ because both breadfruit trees in the neighbouring houses had interlocking branches.

Munavvar’s relatives decided to forgive the man, but Munavvar who bore a personal grudge against the man, gave him a disproportionately long sentence. This case was reported in the Maldives media but both Maumoon Gayyoom and Munavvar ignored it. This is how Munavvar treats even the weakest among his imagined ‘opponents’. One can guess what torture he will inflict on any person who seriously politically opposes him if he is able to become Maldives’ next dictator after Gayyoom is toppled by the MDP.

One similarity between the arrogant Dr Munavvar and paranoid Maumoon Gayyoom is that they both enjoy enslaving the people who work under them. If you fail to be publicly courteous and stand up when Munavvar enters the room, he will be your enemy for life. Munavvar lacks any sense of humanity towards his fellow beings and was even snobbish towards his fellow Cabinet members.

At various times he prevented draft bills by the former Labour minister Abdulla Kamaaludhdheen from being heard or read at the People’s Majlis. (Abdulla Kamaaludhdheen is now the Fisheries minister; may Allah protect the fishing industry!)

All Maldivians know about Kamaaludhdheen’s intellectual limitations, but bills by any majlis member, regardless of whether he can read and write, at least deserve a hearing.

Gayyoom removed Munavvar from the Attorney General’s position in 2003 and offered him another post, but Munavvar declined the offer. It is believed that Gayyoom’s brother and Trade Minister Abdullah Yameen wanted both Zaki and Munavvar removed from cabinet because Yameen saw them as a threat to his own presidential dreams.

Zaki and Munavvar never belonged to the core group of the Gayyoom regime, and they had visions of gaining power in the future. Both of them criticised Gayyoom in private gatherings, but in public it was all ‘praise for Gayyoom’. Even in October 2003 during the peak of Gayyoom’s election campaign, Zaki organised a ceremony supposedly to mark an anniversary of national planning in the Maldives, and Gayyoom was invited and gave a speech with maximum publicity. Zaki had organised similar publicity campaigns for Gayyoom on many occasions.

As the Attorney General, Munavvar relentlessly prosecuted political dissidents and people with moderate Islamic beliefs who were critical of the regime. His performance at the Sandhaanu prisoners trials, on behalf of Maumoon Gayyoom, was a national and legal disgrace. At the same time, he pulled strings to free his friends who committed all sorts of criminal acts.

There is no doubt that both Zaki and Munavvar would be faithful servants in the Gayyoom regime had they not been sidelined. If they had been offered acceptable cabinet portfolios they would have remained supporters of the regime and would not have ‘defected’ to the MDP.

As Attorney General, Munavvar received an opportunity to work towards constitutional and legal reform but he did nothing with his skills and power for the betterment of Maldives and Maldivians. Instead, he defended a corrupt regime, and ended up a corrupt politician.

Maldivians will not support Zaki or Munavvar in any government that comes to power. Zaki and Munavvar were part of the backbone of Gayyoom’s corrupt and cruel system until less than a year ago.

Reference

“Ibrahim Zaki and Dr Munavvar: Gayoom’s Ministers for MDP” Article published in MaldivesCulture.com on 17 July 2004

“Gayoom’s Ministers for MDP Leadership” Blog post by Free Machine published in Maldives Today, 27 May 2007

If you agree with us that Dr Munavvar used his position in government to abuse power and engage in corruption, send this article by email to your friends, write about it in your facebook groups and write about it in your blogs. We can’t let the lies of Dr Munavvar go unchallenged.

“If we have the present constitution and political parties, we are finished”

“If we have the present constitution and political parties, we are finished.” This is how Dr Munavvar was trying to stop the political party registration in Maldives when 42 people signed a request for forming a political party in 2001.

In 2001 Dr Munavvar was in the cabinet of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, serving the dictator as Attorney General. He was also the MP representing Addu Atoll but it is widely believed that in the parliamentary elections of 1994 and 1999 he was not elected by popular vote by Addu people, but handpicked by the regime because he was their loyal servant. Indeed, the two elections that Munavvar contested for a parliament seat were rigged elections and government used tactics of intimidation in Addu Atoll against the reform-minded candidates. In 1994 Ahmed Didi (Sandhaanu Ahmed Didi) or Mandela as he was known during that time, was imprisoned to prevent him from winning. Maldivian Rebels in the 4th issue of their underground magazine Maverick described how the election fraud is committed in the Maldives.

Ahmed Ibrahim Didi from Hulhudhoo island in Addu Atoll ran as a candidate for a seat of Addu Atoll. According to the first issue of Sandhaanu it was the popularity he received that prompted the regime to send him to Dhoonidhoo, a separate island prison. He was kept there till the election was over. It is not clear during which election this had happened but it could have been during the election of 1994 in which he received 1,789 votes and came fourth among 14 candidates. There were big shots contesting with him including the Attorney General Dr Mohamed Munawwar, who won a seat and came first in the election. Ironically, Ahmed Didi is now also in prison, this time for his involvement in the underground email newsletter Sandhaanu.

In the parliamentary elections of Maldives, Gayoom’s regime used tactics of repression to ensure that his cronies and cabinet ministers were elected. Dr Munavvar was appointed to the Cabinet in November 1993 as Attorney General. In 1994 in the first parliamentary election that he contested for a seat in Addu, all government resources were mobilised to elect the Attorney General Munavvar. This situation was repeated in the election of 1999.

As a member of parliament, Dr Munavvar lent his support to the dictatorial regime in the Maldives for ten years. This was the ten years he spent as the Attorney General prosecuting dissidents and people who raised their voices against Gayoom.

When the 42 people requested to form a political party, Gayoom tactfully sent the matter to the parliament where his loyalists including his appointed 8 members killed the attempt towards pluralism in Maldives. Dr Munavvar gave long speeches in the parliament against forming political parties in the Maldives.

In an interview with Washington Times, Gayoom said party system will endanger national unity.

Speaking of the incident, the President claims that it was endangering national unity. “The multi-party system,” he warns, “may lead to the division of the country.” He emphasizes that Parliament voted on the issue at his request, and denied it by 43 votes to five. “People decided it was not the right time yet to have political parties,” he says.

Gayoom’s ally in preventing the formation of political parties in the Maldives was Dr Munavvar who gave the now famous legal advice to the dictator that political parties were not possible under the current constitution. In reality, Gayoom needed a good excuse or justification to stop the attempt to form political parties and Dr Munavvar happily produced the justification. Munavvar said reform and change is possible without a party system.

Attorney General Munavvar, also a Member of Parliament, claims that a multi-party system would necessitate a constitutional amendment. “The Electoral Commission must be independent, and so must the Elections Commissioner – in such a system one must ensure that they can only be appointed with the consent of Parliament.” He says change is possible with the present system: “If we have the present constitution and political parties, we are finished: a party is never going to agree to change the constitution. Right now, it can happen.”

Dr Munavvar’s justification was in reality as absurd as the reasons Ilyas Ibrahim gave about why political parties should not be formed in the Maldives. He said Maldivians were not mature enough for political discussions such as formation of political parties.

While not forbidden by law, the President officially discourages political parties on the grounds that they are inappropriate to the homogeneous nature of society. Minister of Transport Ilyas Ibrahim, speaking in his capacity as a Member of Parliament, a post he has held since 1975, agrees. He says that the competitive advantage of a multi-party democracy in the Maldives cannot be immediately realized because of the characteristics of the nation: its size, and its people’s inexperience in political debate. “We are not mature enough to have this kind of discussion,” he says.

The fact of the matter is Maldivian people were not even asked if they wanted political parties. There was no referendum on the issue and the parliament comprised of mainly Gayoom’s stooges such as Dr Munavvar. Maldivian Rebels, in their fifth issue of underground magazine Maverick, explained the circumstances of 2001.

Approximately 40 people, including some senior civil servants, signed an application to form a political party. There were talks with Ministry of Home Affairs, Housing and Environment, the ministry which approved the formation of clubs and NGOs and such bodies. There was no law forbidding the formation of political parties even though a party had been formed only once in 1950s. Of course several things, including the electoral process, would have to be changed to accommodate political parties. President Gayyoom sent the matter to the parliament where the proposal to form a party was effectively killed. The President was very cunning in his move; he could say it was not the government but the elected representatives of the people who rejected the idea.

In a country as autocratic as Maldives and led by a President who dominates everything, it is not hard to imagine on whose orders the parliament would have acted.

Ironically, the person who vocally argued against forming political parties is today the President of MDP, a party formed under the current constitution, the same party that applied for registration and failed in 2001. Now Dr Munavvar has set his eyes on becoming the President of Maldives with an MDP ticket. He makes some people believe that he is a champion of democracy and pluralism. In reality, he is a corrupt politician and should never be elected for a public office in Maldives again. Because of Dr Munavvar, the road to pluralism in Maldives was turbulent and it was only in 2005 that political parties were at last formed in the Maldives, thanks to the sacrifices of reformist activists in the Maldives.

Reference

Maverick, the magazine of Maldivian Rebels, Issues 4 published July 2003
Maverick, the magazine of Maldivian Rebels, Issues 5 published 21 January 2005
http://www.do2004.com/DO/Maverick_Resist.htm
http://www.maldivesculture.com/news/maldives_maverick_index.htm

“The question of democracy” Washington Times article on Maldives 2002

If you agree with us that Dr Munavvar worked as a servant of Gayoom in preventing the registration of political parties in Maldives in 2001, send this article by email to your friends, write about it in your facebook groups and write about it in your blogs. We can’t let the lies of Dr Munavvar go unchallenged.