THE MAN FOR ALL ISLANDS
Ex - President of Maldives Gayoom (1978 / 2009)
Summoned by Presidential Commission on Corruption:
A visiting European Union Parliamentarian to Male mentioned, while referring to former President Gayoom that it would be better for him to remain as a respected Statesman like former Presidents of other countries. Though undiplomatic, what he said is essentially true.
Having remained as President for three decades with "unlimited power," Gayoom should have gracefully retired and remained as an elder statesman making himself available for consultations if required and more importantly remain above politics. It looks that he has ambitions to become president again and it is not a good sight for a person of his position to be addressing party rallies all over Maldives. If he has such ambitions to continue in politics then he will necessarily have to take the flak of all the mis doings of those cronies who enjoyed power and privilege (pillage?) during his time and will have to explain and be accountable. This is what has happened now.
President Nasheed soon after taking over saw to it that the outgoing president was given due respect, privileges and financial support. In the joint press conference soon after election, he requested Gayoom to be of help to them in governance. His approach as mentioned in our paper of 2919 of 10th November 2008 was one of forgiveness, respect and tolerance.
Nine months later what has gone wrong that on 12th July, the Presidential commission had formally summoned Gayoom to its office to probe into alleged embezzlement and corruption of state funds and resources? One could be the enormity of the embezzlement of the state funds and two, it could also be due to pressure from President Nasheed�s colleagues who were not happy with the way Gayoom having obtained all the privileges for a "former president" and yet going about criticising the government repeatedly on all issues in the party meetings. Many of them who are pressing for action were the ones who would have suffered most during Gayoom�s time.
One cannot forget the way Gayoom chased his predecessor Ibrahim Nasir and his family out of the country by slapping innumerable charges against him. Ibrahim Nasir is being remembered now on the independence day when he was able to have a smooth transfer of power on 26th July 1965. The problem of Gan base in Adu Atoll was also skillfully solved and the base is now under the sovereign control of the Maldives Government. But Gayoom will also certainly be remembered one day provided he gives up his ambitions now.
But the charges of corruption and diversion of Gayoom�s regime are serious. Instead of taking umbrage under the existing law that the Presidential commission has no powers to issue summons or warrants ( in fact the civil court has upheld this position), Gayoom should have cooperated with the commission to clear his name. A Police team had been to his house to record his statement. There are two versions as to what he said. One said that he signed to the effect that the "commission was not constitutionally empowered to summon people against their will." Another said that "it is not possible for me to answer the commission�s questions since I do not have any of the documents with me now�. He was also reported to have said that it is not certain that the documents are in tact!
DRP sources had also said that the sending of two peons to the former president to serve the summons has lowered the status of the President to that of an ordinary citizen. Hasn�t the former president brought on this situation on himself?
Empowerment of the Commission could be done separately as the civil court on the case filed by President�s brother has not questioned the legality of the commission itself but only its powers. The other way would be to take the "Police Route" of registering separate cases of corruption and defalcation of funds by the former President. This is what is happening and media reports indicate that on 26th July, the Maldives Police Services has formally asked the Prosecutor General Ahmad Muiz to prosecute Gayoom for refusing to attend the enquiry relating to embezzlement of state funds and resources.
The next step would be to with hold his passport and that will be more humiliating.
While there were many cases of diversion of sources and misuse over a period of time, the audit report of the government of 2007 particularly revealed waste, fraud and money laundering. The report according to the Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem showed widespread fraudulent practices by government officials who cooked books and fudged documents. There were serious instances of corruption on the supply side.
Further, the 2008 budget had an unacceptable deficit of Rf 4 billion and according to the Auditor General it was not a balanced one. He said that his warnings were not heeded and the current dollar shortage is directly related to the imbalanced budget. The former government is said to be directly responsible for the severe economic crisis the country is undergoing.
If only former President gives up his ambitions, remain above politics, let the law take its course against all those in his regime who had embezzled or misused funds and cooperate with the President�s Commission against corruption, it will be good for the country as a whole and the nation that has been nurtured by him for three decades will feel grateful to him.
