(We are all machines. Slaves of the system. Only when we free our minds can we free ourselves.)

In an exclusive interview with Minivan News, Michael O’Shea, co-editor of MaldivesCulture.com, expressed regret over ‘publication of allegations of corruption against Gayoom’s former attorney general Mohamed Munavvar and former minister Ibrahim Hussain Zaki.’

Another lapse of editorial judgment was the publication of allegations of corruption against Gayyoom’s former attorney-general Mohamed Munnavar and former minister Ibrahim Hussein Zaki. We are still unsure whether these allegations were part of a slander campaign by Gayyoom against these two men who had been excluded from the dictator’s cabinet after the Maafushi jail shootings, or whether the allegations were a product of internal politicking among the groups who were forming the Maldivian Democratic Party. However, what has become clear is the genuine commitment of Munavvar and Zaki to the movement for democratic reform in Maldives. We apologise to both Munavvar and Zaki, and we regret that publishing the allegations initially made their good work more difficult.

The article that O’Shea referred in this interview was published in Maldives Culture website on 17 July 2004.

O’Shea has dismissed the allegations as either a slander campaign against the former ministers by Gayoom or ‘internal politicking’ within the people who formed MDP. Even though Maldives Culture is known for sound editorial policies, O’Shea’s original decision to publish the article is now a ‘lapse of editorial judgement’ according to him.

After reading the controversial article I feel that the author had provided enough points for further investigations. Several cases of corruption are mentioned. In this small society it will be possible to crosscheck the allegations and find witnesses who either deny or affirm the allegations.

My decision to publish the said article here will no doubt be met with strong criticism and anger. The timing of this decision will be questioned. I have no favourites among the present candidates for MDP leadership. By reviving this article, my intention is not to provide an unfair advantage to the other candidates. However, my belief is that anybody who contests in a political competition must be prepared for challenges. The politicians and most importantly their supporters must be prepared that candidates’ past will be dug out and their past actions will be questioned.

By trying to cover up allegations against politicians we are moving against democratic practices. By thinking that it is taboo to open debates about the candidates, we are encouraging self-censorship and moving towards a closed society.

Ibrahim Zaki and Dr Munavvar: Gayyoom’s ministers for the MDP

(http://www.maldivesculture.com/news/resort_bids_maldives02.htm)
from a correspondent
Maldives Culture
17 July 2004

It is sad that these two former Gayyoom regime ministers have found their way into the MDP. While the MDP stands to gain much from them, the long term damage could far outweigh the benefits. It is in the interests of all MDP members as well as well-wishers of the future of the party that the dark secrets of both these corrupt figures be exposed.

Ibrahim Zaki

When Ibrahim Hussain Zaki was Tourism Minister, Sunland Travel proposed a single bid for Velaavaru, Kihaadhupparu and Dhunikolhu islands. Zaki knew about this and decided to manipulate things to his own advantage.

It is not clear whether Sunland Managing Director Shabeer Ahmed bid three separate proposals at Zaki’s instigation but he was successful. At the time, Shabeer only really wanted one resort. After some underhand deals with Shabeer, Zaki convinced him to give Kihaadhupparu island to Athamaa for resort development. Masooda, one of Zaki’s two wives, is from the Athamaa family.

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 corruption of Zaki was tolerated by Maumoon Gayyoom but the dictator was not happy with the way Zaki had awarded the island of Hudhufushi. Abdul Raoof who operates Giraavaru Resort, had bid for Hudhufushi island and Gayyoom wanted Raoof to receive the island. Gayyoom’s eldest son Farish is married to a daughter of Raoof. So the island of Hudhufushi was put up to tender again and Raoof won it. He has not, however, developed and opened the resort despite the passing of years. It is a clear violation of the contract but Gayyoom turns a blind eye to it. Hudhufushi island is a unique breeding ground for manta rays and many Maldivians believe that it should be protected as an ecological sanctuary rather than developed as a resort.

Environmental factors were not considered when the 14 islands were selected as tourist resorts. Officials like Ismail Firaq from the Tourism ministry, who is intoxicated most of the time, went to some islands and arbitrarily selected them for tourism development.

There is no doubt that Zaki was very popular as the tourism minister both within the tourism industry and also internationally. As the former Secretary General of SAARC, Zaki was known as an achiever. Other ministers were very envious of Zaki, and Information minister Ibrahim Manik (’Samarey’, Gayyoom’s wife Nasreena’s brother-in-law) allowed him only minimal TV time.

Zaki’s popularity was seen as a threat to other ministers and to Gayyoom as well, and there were speculation that Zaki would be removed from the cabinet.

After 1998 presidential elections when Gayyoom chose his cabinet, Zaki was transferred to Ministry of Planning and National Development. Some people say Zaki was not removed from cabinet because he was one of the masterminds behind the biography of Gayyoom, ‘A Man for All Islands’ written by Royston Ellis. This biography was sponsored by wealthy tourist operators such as Champa Hussain Afeef. The book contributed to the development of Gayyoom’s personality cult.

As Planning minister, Zaki continued to show his skills as an administrator. It was also during this time that he and Munavvar became shareholders in one of the companies that started to develop Vilingili island in Addu Atoll as a tourist resort. The government also has shares in this resort, so it is obvious that Zaki and Munavvar’s participation in this venture was done with the blessing of Gayyoom.

When Gayyoom announced his cabinet after the election of 2003 Zaki was not included in it. Gayyoom and his brother Abdullah Hameed had for a long time wanted to give Hameed’s son Hamdoon Hameed a cabinet portfolio. Hamdoon who was the deputy planning minister, had always wanted to be the Planning minister.

Zaki could have been moved to another ministry but Gayyoom offered him the position of the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission that the president was planning to form. Zaki did not accept this offer because it did not have the status of a ministerial position.

When Zaki was Planning Minister, another incident he benefited from was by halting some developments on Reethi Rah resort owned by Minaa Kuday and also the father of Baa atoll Majlis Member Thasmeen Ali. Zaki got some two million dollars from Reethi Rah in order to use his contact with the President’s private secretary Abdulla Shahid to convince Gayyoom to let the controversial development on Reethi Rah continue.

It is not clear how much Zaki paid Shahid this time and Maumoon Gayyoom is likely to have been a beneficiary of this bribe.

Like the Reethi Rah case, there are also scandals concerning Farukolhu resort owned by Club Med. The government began investigations into this resort but Zaki immediately stopped these actions when Farukolhu offered him US$15,000 - not much when compared to Zaki’s extravagant bribes, but nevertheless enough to finance the maintenance of his cars.

Dr Mohamed Munavvar

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.