President returns after visit to Malaysia

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and First Lady Ilham Hussain have returned to Male’ last night after their visit to Malaysia.

The president and first lady commenced their private trip to Malaysia on 28 December. The president held meetings with former Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamed and Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Anifah Aman as part of his trip.

This trip by the president to Malaysia comes at a time when some investments in the Maldives by private Malaysian companies are threatened. The government decided last week to halt the border control system project undertaken in cooperation with Malaysian company Nexbis. The government earlier defended the project when efforts were made by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to end it. The leading person involved in awarding the project to Nexbis was brother-in-law of President Waheed, former Controller of Immigration Department Ilyas Hussain. Moreover, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad was also involved in the agreement with GMR regarding the operation of the Maldivian Airport. Concerns were raised by Malaysia earlier in relation to this issue.