:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Another Scandal in the Tourism Industry

Mariyam Mohamed, Male', 16th September 2004

Bidding is just a name when it comes to resort bidding in the Maldives Tourism Industry. Lhaviyani Atoll Hudhufushi (a 400 bed resort), which is still not in operation after 3 years was given to Giraavaru Abdul Rauf (whose daughter is married to Gayyoom's son) over three years ago and similarly Haa Alifu Dhonakulhi (a 100 berth marina and a 50 bed resort) which was awarded to a company belonging to Shuaib Shah (Maumoon's son in law). And now we see a similar scandal in the cases for the recent Villivaru and Biyaadhoo bidding whose results just came out. Villvaru was awarded to Mr Ibrahim Abdul Latheef of Athamaage and Biyaadhoo was awarded to Sunland Pvt Ltd.

Villivaru and Biyaadhoo evaluations were planned even before they went up for bid. Out of the 8 members, 2 members were placed by no other than Mr Ismail Firag (whose wife is maumoon's secretary) who has been running the show for resort bidding for the last decade and by Maumoon's executive secretary Mr Abdullah Shahid. These dirty players in the committee are Mr Amjad Abdulla and Mr Ibrahim Shafiu.

The full evaluation committee is as follows:

Mr. Abdul Hameed Zakariyya (Chairman)
Mr. Abdulla Saeed
Mr. Ali Mohamed
Ms. Aminath Ali
Ms. Aminath Athifa
Mr. Amjad Abdulla
Mr. Ibrahim Shafiu
Ms. Shehenaz Abdulla

DO's informant inside the tourism ministry has revealed that both Amjad Abdulla (a corrupt government employee in the Environment Ministry) and Ibrahim Shafiu (an everyday bribe taking thief , once in Customs and now Immigration) were paid USD 50,000.00 each to turn the results of the evaluation to the way Mr Ismail Firaq and Mr Abdullah Shahid favoured. Amjad and Shafiu were not officially involved in preparing any of the Villvaru or Biyaadhoo bids but sources have revealed that Amjad was in fact involved in the preparation of the Bid submitted by Ibrahim Abdul Latheef!

Where people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare a bid, it must be evaluated fairly. There should be no room for people like Mr Ismail Firaq and Mr Abdullah Shahid to play around with scores. Villivaru scores were based on individual marking which is unacceptable because anyone can singly influence the outcome of the marks. This is exactly what Amjad Abdullah and Ibrahim Shafiu did.

Amjad Abdulla and Ibrahim Shafiu gave extremely low marks to all other bidders except for Ibrahim Abdul Latheef's bid for Villivaru(Bid No. ICSL 000731). DO would like to ask every member of the evaluation committee especially Ms Aminath Athifa and Ms Shehenaz Abdullah who were brave enough to demand for a re-evaluation of Villivaru whether Mr Ibrahim Abdul Latheef's bid deserves a score of 49.319 for Total Technical Score!

The full marks can be found at: http://www.maldivestourism.gov.mv/vilivaru_biyaadhoo_bid_report/DETAILED_EVALUATION_VILIVARU.pdf

It is given in the committee report that 2 members wanted to have a re-evaluation of the Villivaru case but it was not stated WHO demanded a re-evaluation and WHY it was demanded. DO'
s source in the Tourism industry re-assures that it was demanded because of the ridiculous individual markings given by Amjad Abdulla and Ibrahim Shafiu! The detailed evaluation report can be found at:

http://www.maldivestourism.gov.mv/vilivaru_biyaadhoo_bid_report/Report_Vilivaru_Biyaadhoo_Evaluation_Committee.pdf

A member of the committee went to complain to the President's office and the President's office (or should we say Abdullah Shahid's office?) gave instructions that the Villivaru evaluation cannot be overturned! To cool things down and not to have resignations on the table, the President's office then instructed the committee that unlike the Villivaru case, Biyaadhoo evaluation could be based on group marking which is much more reasonable as the committee as a group gives a single score eliminating much rather big deviations of scores like the ones given by Amjad and Shafiu in the Villivaru case.

It is also suspicious that among 24 bidders for Villivaru, 18 bidders were disqualified for small reasons which DO find unacceptable. On a 500 page bid for example, a bid has been disqualified for not having a signature on an intentionally left blank page! Rumours have been circulating over and over again that Mr Ismail Firaq has been purposely tearing pages among many other such vandal acts to get certain bids disqualified. No wonder that Mr Ismail Firaq can afford to send his daughter to the UK for her studies and can take a business class fare just to drop her off on a salary of 2400 Rufiyaa!

AAA resorts submitted basically the same bid for both Villivaru and Biyaadhoo but their Total Marks for Technicality for both bids differ hugely! Why? Because Amjad and Shafiu didn't get a chance to play around in the case for Biyaadhoo as it was a group marking evaluation!

It is rumoured that Mr Ibrahim Abdul Latheef has made a deal with Abdullah Shahid, The former Minister of Tourism Hassan Sobir and Ismail Firag in the Villivaru case where each of the mentioned receives a nice share of the resort if awarded. Many respectable businesses have spent huge amounts of money in preparing these bids and many of them are demanding a re-evaluation of the Villivaru and Biyaadhoo bids and DO demands a re-evaluation as well. And a re-evaluation should take place with less corrupt people in the evaluation committee and there should be no way that Mr Ismail Firaq or Mr Abdullah Shahid can influence in choosing the committee members! Be careful Mr Firag and Mr Shahid! People are watching you!!!