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Minister of Atolls, Majlis Speaker and chairman of Bank of Maldives Abdullah Hameed: A Secret Known to All

By Th. H
Sandhaanu
26 May 2004
translated and headlines added by Maldives Culture

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abdullah hameed maldives

Abdullah Hameed

A secret known to all is the story of a very young man, Abdulla Ali, being appointed as an assistant to the (Haa Dhaalu) Atoll Chief. A servant at the Atoll Office told his friends he had seen Abdullah Hameed and Abdulla Ali rub critical parts of each others thighs as they enjoyed tea at the dining table in the atoll house. We received this information during a visit to the island this year.

Abdulla Ali has been expelled from a legal diploma course after being caught cheating in an exam, but he has been re-instated to the course by Abdullah Hameed, according to people who claim Ali boasts about this. He has told people how he stayed in Male' at a rented house paid for by Abdullah Hameed. The writers have interviewed people who verified these assertions. Do not think these are untrue stories.

Dhoani dealers
There can be no doubt that Hussein Manik Dhon Manik does not carry on a business with money inherited from his father. No way!

abdullah hameed satire graphic from Dhivehi Observer 2004

It is from funds that belong to Maldivians. There are numerous odi, dhoani and lorries available for hire in his name that really belong to the people of Maldives. All these assets have been made available to him by his intimate partner Abdullah Hameed.

Eydhafushi Saleem is Hameed’s second hidden safe depository. When a corruption enquiry found him to have misappropriated over one million rufiyaa, the Anti-Corruption Board reported this to the President’s Office which decided not to take the findings any further. Maumoon (the president) will deny all knowledge of the information, but there are people who check these things and record them.

Saud Bey in Raa Atoll is not a fit person to be kept in a such a position, but he is a man who will follow any order from Hameed. Saud Bey's job is to buy dhoani needed for Atoll Offices for a cheap price from Raa Atoll and deliver them to Eydhafushi island.

Kadholhudhoo Gasim Kaleyfaan used to be Hameed’s man in Eydhafushi island who organised the repairing and refitting of these dhoani, with the profits going to Hameed. Kadholhudhoo Gasim has now been transferred to another job.

Hameed kept a man named Abdul Rahman in Noonu Atoll who started playing the same games. Abdul Rahman did not last long in Noonu atoll, because of his serial pursuit of women. He had to be transferred to another atoll when he was chased by a group of people who found him in bed with the wife of the assistant atoll chief. He jumped over a wall and ran off and hid. The people of Manadhoo island still tell this story to entertain themselves.

Bad judgment

Hameed made very little financial profit from Noonu atoll, but he had the services of many young men. It was in the launch on the way to Naifaru island that the magistrate of Lhohee experienced Hameed's attentions. The junior magistrate had to take Hameed’s Dutchlady brand Milk (semen) and as a result he became ill and began to throw up. When Hameed and his party stopped in Naifaru, the magistrate was taken to Male’ hospital for treatment. It is a well known story that Hameed brings pens for the island chief of Velidhoo and at night Hameed shows him how to hold them.

Hameed’s brother-in-law was in Lhaviyani atoll in charge of building schools and rennovating office buildings, and only Allah knows how much these things cost! The people of Naifaru talk in detail about the cost and the construction standards of the Ifthithahu school building. They wrote letters of complaint but nothing happened.

Atoll shops in Male'

The atolls’ shop buildings in Male’ are rented out to Hussein Manik Dhon Manik (close friend of Hameed) for his own benefit. People of the atolls personally constructed these buildings, while living in Male’ in very difficult circumstances. Instead of the rent money being deposited in the atolls’ bank accounts, the funds end up in Hameed’s pocket. Raa Atoll shop building is leased to Maanu, Hameed’s son-in-law, for Rf25,000. Mahumood, a businessman who had always rented this building, was refused renewal of the lease and he had to rent it from Maanu for the price of Rf55,000. Mahumood tells this story to everyone around the market.

All of the other atolls' shop buildings are rented in similar circumstances. Some shop buildings are rented from Hussein Manik Dhon Manik and others are rented from Eydhafushi Saleem (who runs Red Wave shop). The accounts of the atolls receive very little money from these arrangements. Are these shops a family inheritance of the Kamineege (Hameed's) family?

Lifelong loan

As the chairman of Bank of Maldives, Hameed does whatever he likes with the bank finances. He has given a loan of four million rufiyaa (US$330,000) to Hussein Manik Dhon Manik without any bank guarantee. No repayments were received on this loan and it was wiped from the records. There are Maldivians who know about this incident.

Election rigging

Here is a description of the pressure that Hameed puts on the atoll chiefs and island chiefs during the presidential referendums and Majlis elections.

The island chiefs are given instructions that no referendum vote with a cross should be put in the ballot box. Otherwise the chiefs would lose their jobs.

I witnessed an incident on an island during the 1988 presidential referendum day:
There was a curtain pulled between the ballot box and the voting desk. The mudhim of the island was a tall man and he was standing there looking over the curtain as people marked the ballot paper and saying in English (so the voters would not understand) to the island chief sitting at the desk whether a ‘tick’ or ‘cross’ had been written on each voting paper. The chief recorded this on the list he had on his desk. Anyone who put a cross on the ballot paper would encounter difficulties whenever they went to the island office for whatever reason.

The official records show this island voted 100% YES in the three presidential referendums, and the same man was the island chief each time. This chief was destined to suffer Allah’s punishment for his sins. Although he did everything Hameed asked of him, the island chief lost his job when Hameed believed an untrue report about him from an informant.

These chiefs seem not to know that Allah is ruler of the hearts of the people. Those who are greedy for the materials of the world, are destined to be ruined. Many island chiefs have faced a similar fate.

A Northern Island:

The ballot box was taken into the island office and the ballot papers were fished out with an iloshi (coconut frond leaflet spine) that had double-sided sticky tape on it. All papers with crosses (NO) were removed, and the rest put back in the box. This ingenuity on the part of the island school teacher saw him promoted to the position of island chief.

Another northern island:

In the 2003 presidential referendum, the island chief and committee members removed all the ballots from the box with long narrow hospital tweezers. They then placed an invalidating mark on all the papers that had a cross (NO) on them. The doctored ballot papers were returned to the box which was then sealed.

The island chief of this island does not have the qualifications of a clerk; he holds the position by his willingness to do things like that. Ninety percent of the people in his island are opposed to him because of his low behaviour.

Naivaadhoo island, Haa Dhaal atoll:

The island chief of Naivaadhoo is a very clever man. He once served as a manager of one of the atoll shops in Male' during President Nasir’s rule. Even Nasir was shocked by what an audit of the shop showed – perfectly balanced accounts. There was not single laari of profit or a loss. Just a full account of goods and money for which he was responsible. Nasir congratulated him and dismissed him.

kaafu voting trick

During a presidential referendum, the Naivaadhoo chief gathered the people of the island and told them to make their choice. If they didn’t like Maumoon, he said, then put a small kaafu and if they liked Maumoon then put a big kaafu on the ballot paper. The result of the referendum was 100% of votes saying YES for Maumoon (small 'k' looks like a small tick (YES) and big 'K' looks like a bigger tick).

The people found out what had happened, and the story of the small kaafu and big kaafu spread all over the atoll and around the country.

After all this grubby politics, the radio and TV say that Maumoon has been legally elected to rule Maldives. Many Maldivians do not see a 'legal' process. The atoll chiefs and island chiefs are the perpetrators of the torment the people of Maldives are going through at present. The most co-operative (as far as the regime is concerned) among them are Utheem Adam Abdul Rahman, Kadholhudhoo Gasim Kaleyfaan, Braboa Rasheed, Hamid Yusuf and Zakariyya Hameed. They are ‘Harmans’ who consider Maumoon to be a god.

During the Majlis elections, Abdullah Hameed has instructions sent to the island chiefs telling them which candidate should be elected. The island chiefs go to any lengths to get Hameed's candidate elected. In a well-known story from Kulhudhuffushi island, the election officials marked entire ballot books and put them in the ballot box. Those who took part in this fraud were brought to Male’ and each person was fined Rf500. The Kulhudhuffushi chiefs were found to have done nothing wrong.

Zero Zakaath

The previous Kulhudhuffushi chief Iqbal and the still-serving junior chief Moosa Ali have both been involved in deceptive conduct. For many years, they misappropriated money from the Zakath (alms) collection which was meant to be distributed to poor people in the island. This matter was investigated by Auditor General Ismail Fathy.
Iqbal and Moosa Ali were found to have misappropriated over Rf50,000 each. This was money for the poor, and it is surprising that these two men had no fear of Allah’s curse. They will receive no redemption from Almighty God.

People of the island say that Moosa Ali was first a clerk at the Food Control Office and there he was caught selling a sack of flour on the black market. He was fired and exiled for the offence. However such people receive endorsement from Abdullah Hameed and Maumoon Gayyoom.

Iqbal and Mossa Ali were told to repay the Zakath by taking a bank loan. There was no court trial; they were helped, and the matter was brushed under the carpet. Maumoon Gayyoom will say these things happen without his knowledge!

Hitching the mundu for Munavvar

Zadi of Addu atoll is a person very close to Hameed. He was the man who, acting on Hameed’s instructions, gave evidence in court against Ilyas Ibrahim (powerful Male' minister, member of Majlis for Male', businessman and brother-in-law of Maumoon Gayyoom). Since then, Zadi has been left to do whatever he likes with the Addu Atoll Gan island Management Unit. Reports of misappropriations by Zadi were investigated and sent to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.

Hameed asked Dr Mohamed Munavvar (Attorney General at the time) not to send the matter to the court. This became a serious problem for Dr Munavvar so he obtained advice from Maumoon Gayyoom and sent the matter to court. Later, Zadi was sentenced.

After that, Hameed had his 'mundu hitched up' working to remove Munavvar from Cabinet. Hameed has achieved what he wanted, and these incidents will continue. When Hameed worked in the Justice Ministry he did similar things.

Kulhudhuffushi capers

Someone was found to have misappropriated mosque building materials sent to Kulhudhuffushi island on Haa Dhaalu atoll by the Education ministry. When the matter went to court, the defendant, with help from Kaafu Dhaalu Ahmed Manik, went to see Hameed with a payment of Rf10,000. The court proceedings were discontinued. The defendant told the whole story to a friend he ran into as he came outside after seeing Hameed. It is well known all over Haa Dhaal atoll. The people of the island have an alternative name for the mosque.

Mohamed Umar's organ

The island chief of Ban'didhoo island of Dhaalu atoll is a special man. He had his masculine organ damaged twice and Hameed paid his expenses for treatment in India. He went for the second time in August 2001 and phoned a friend and admitted everything. This island chief is the only senior island chief in the atoll, despite his island having a population of less than 600 people. Here is the contradiction in Hameed’s boasts that senior chiefs are appointed only in islands with a population of more than 2,000. It also shows how important this senior chief Mohamed Umar is for Hameed. During some trips to the atoll, Hameed spends the night in Ban'didhoo.

Education incomes

Mohamed Waheed the ex-Majlis member for Fua Mulak was brought to the Education ministry when Hameed was the Education minister and he was given Rf200,000 from the Education Fund. He has not repaid this money yet. The Education Ministry has been unable to recover the money because Hameed blocks the proceedings. Maumoon Gayyoom would know all about this.

During Hameed’s ministership at the Education ministry, he had newspapers give three reports of missing money totalling Rf600,000 from the ministry’s account, but according to Hameed they could not find who took this money. There are people who know the details of this matter and when the time comes they should reveal them.

This shows how much Maumoon Gayyoom’s family deceives the country. Let us think about this and how very depressing it is.

There were many island office buildings that had been only laid foundations for over twelve years when Ilyas Ibrahim became Minister for the Atolls. All the buildings were completed during Ilyas’ term in office. At that time all the money in the budget was spent on 'this and that' by Hameed and Hussein Manik Dhon Manik. Many people know this too.

Vaikaradhoo Ali Riza is now the assistant atoll chief of north Ari atoll. Before, he was a school teacher. The parents of the students of the island school caught him red-handed having homosexual sex with a group of school students and they told him to leave the island. He then went to Rasdhoo island school. The parents of Rasdhoo island discussed the matter of this teacher with Hameed when he was the Education minister and Hameed asked them to give him the teacher’s name, age and address in writing. The next thing they heard, he had been made the assistant atoll chief.

Abdulla Rasheed, the other assistant atoll chief, went to see Hameed about the new appointment. He told Hameed the people of the island said that Ali Riza was a homosexual. After the meeting, Abdulla Rasheed returned home and there was a message for him from the Atoll Ministry. The message ordered him to stay home without attending work, and he was kept like this for a year.

A microphone is attached to the Atolls ministry desk used by Ilyas Hussein of Javaahiruvaadhee, and Hameed listens to all of Ilyas’ conversations at work. This is contrary to the constitution, but Hameed is Maumoon's brother so the president does nothing. Ilyas wrote and complained directly to the president, but Maumoon will just say he knows nothing..

Just as alcohol is not forbidden to non-Muslims, manipulation of the constitution is not a forbidden practice to the family of Maumoon Gayyoom.