Stealing paradise l Al Jazeera Investigations

[Music] he speaks on the phone the president fits in the order to take the case so I'm the one who takes the bag to him to his residence most of the time there will be like things then the sportive [Music] everyone ready to president some months is every day the money will become it suppose will be 100,000 the use to this might be 1 million views to this [Music] al-jazeera's investigative unit has obtained secretly recorded confessions and a major data leak over 10 gigabytes of documents photos and messages they tell the story of the president of the Maldives yameen Abdul Gayoom it is a tale of corruption thuggery and international money laundering what words would you use to describe Yami reclusive brutal corrupt authoritarian here just a bicycle when he started politics but now he's a billionaire he is the mafia head he presents himself as that he behaves like that the data drive leads to Singapore and applaud to launder up to 1.5 billion dollars through the Maldives central bank hi mr. pizer how many days we live I've seen your picture we have tracked down the men behind the deal men who move billions of dollars in cash stacked on pallets have you Bossier see a good 500 not big so in that's loving that seriously long as they don't sell arms my conscience is clear a journalist who criticized the government disappeared a television station torched anyone and everyone who expresses different opinion in somewhere being punished everybody is afraid [Music] to the outside world the Maldives is a picture of paradise but the local people don't live on luxury resorts for them it's either the cramped capital or underdeveloped islands their paradise has not just been lost it has been stolen what's happening in the mold is is out raids [Music] we gave out Islands we didn't sell over 300 million dollars have gone missing embezzled [Music] I'm will Jordan I lived and worked in the Maldives as a journalist a decade ago I returned to investigate the country's ruler after obtaining an extraordinary data drop the information provides hard proof of long-held suspicions I didn't realize that they were using the state for all sorts of criminal activities we'd heard rumors but I mean up until now we hadn't seen any proof the leak is the contents of three mobile phones everything from secret documents to selfies taken together they tell a story of corruption the man on the phone up made a deep the country's youngest vice president at just 33 in his phone messages vice president a deep portrays himself as more than just a politician I am boss of all gangs in the Maldives they all operate as a fleet I took them over in the last election admitted deep swapped football for politics becoming Tourism Minister in 2013 the tourism ministership is known as the ATM because that's what brings in revenue for the government it was also quite amazing his transformation from 2012 to last year he increased massively in size he was just so fat and it was also all the bling bling like so many rings the haircut the glasses the suits the cars it was unbelievable he referred to himself and his friends as bro and the system became known as the bro economy he was just flaunting his wealth and he always had a group of other bros around him and they were also in Parliament so he made sure a lot of his former football player friends got elected to Parliament and they were all the same admitted EOBs phone messages reveal how he and his boss president yameen stole paradise he was just a shadow a very loyal shadow of President Johnny he took the money he got the money he distributed the money once in power the two men offered islands at knockdown prices to international hotel chains he was setting up our nation from under our feet there were five million three million two million this building houses the Maldives marketing and PR corporation it was the cash machine and they are legally withdrew millions a blow Ziad was appointed director and regularly received texts from vice-president Adeeb to arrange their deals three checks 1/3 million 1 million 1 million bro gifts also in that bro don't worry man he gave a free reign to upload yet his accomplice at the mm PRC to just hand out Islands and all these deals it was so clear that from day one Ben never intended for this money to actually be used for public good the scam begins when unwitting tourism tycoons pay a fee for an island say five million dollars it would make out the check to the Maldives marketing and PR corporation but a blow ziad rewrote the rules to allow checks to be diverted he would put his signature and stamp on the back and it would be paid into another account cashed out and embezzled please two checks total over five million u.s. dollars the checks were paid from the government corporation two companies controlled by a deep uncle the data show how vice-president Deeb led the theft of nearly 80 million dollars of state funds better make it cash or something because we don't want anyone to know any details of ideals birth okay the government is even planning a special tax free zone for investors vice-president Adeeb joked about the opportunities it would offer we will make zone deals not only Islands he the untouchables but being untouchable can be expensive we have obtained secretly filmed confessions given by men who worked closely with the vice president and his boss they described how stolen money was used to buy influence since he came to power he have been driving the MPs the judges lawyers everyone else the whole system is the president's money man are on the run in the UK the Maldives government has put them under international arrest warrants the men say the government wants them back because they know too much about president yameen I think it's Li the president is scared kidding not that they had all the information each man describes how he rode around on a moped delivering bribes money stolen from the people and given to the Maldives most influential have been met some of Syria members of the government I am just personally going to get them the money cash in cash off always comes in it goes out guy just throw them in are let's tell me are they are and I say disco entropy the plan was not just to use the money to buy politicians but judges as well like Ally Hameed at the Supreme Court the phone messages expose him in receipt of stolen money [Music] last night you gave Ali Hamid $4,000 yes okay good so in 2012 there were audio clips and videos that were leaked that appeared to show a man that sounded and looked like Ali Hamid having sex with three different women in a Colombo hotel room and also of a conversation he had with local businessman where he said I'm a young mean man the messages show that for a feed judge Hameed was a young man the tuition fees for two of his children abroad and jobs for his brother and cousin Port Royal T until the next election we will remain soldiers till the mission is over in 2018 we will never let them destroy our president and his team's achievement after the sex tapes judge Hamid came under investigation six months later vice president of deep managed to close the inquiry read the news I have saved our Patriot Ally Hamid six months work my dear brother you and his Excellency the president did more than enough for me and my family I will always be grateful sir and after that video he was appointed as the chief of the Judicial Service Commission that's the motives that we are talking about [Music] we're talking about a man who was caught on camera having sex with three different women in a country where young women get regularly flogged for having sex outside of marriage [Music] with the judges in their pocket vice-president Adeeb and president yameen could act with impunity several media organizations were attacked Rajai TV was torched in October 2013 Shawny Ziad is the head of the English department everything was burned down everything all I could meant it is in here it was all burnt down but he started to notice later in the new Buddha undeterred the channel continued to broadcast a year later the vice president asked police to repeat the attack but the chief of police suggested intimidating the channels investors instead blast it again no I guess better to control sponsors he okay give me the list journalists are medrol one vanished over two years ago he was a reporter for Maldives independent so Hina Rashid is the editor on August 10th when he didn't show up for work we thought okay he's hibernating Monday didn't turn up for work Tuesdays when his family said we haven't been able to reach him and that's when we got worried they began retracing his final journey [Music] they found CCTV footage of him at the ferry terminal and they believed he was being watched he took the 1 o'clock ferry when rihwan got off the ferry he didn't get on the bus but he walked home sometimes I wonder you know like why did he walk home we've all received death threats if he'd just gone home earlier he would be here today he might be here today [Music] this is the corner it's just changed so much so he lived in that apartment of that or in the table between 1:30 and 2:00 o'clock they saw like a man being forced into a car at knifepoint and the car driving off really fast the car drove so fast the people in the car didn't have time to close the door two weeks after real one went missing police had few leads the case had become high-profile but the president was not concerned he instructed the Home Affairs Minister to take it easy on the investigation Umar no need to be overwhelmed by real one case okay noted so at the very least it implies a massive cover-up by the government worst it implies that the President and the Vice President were involved and ordered his abduction we lobbied every single government body or state body that we could think of I mean we knocked on every single door and none of these places responded real ones family suspect he was investigating corrupt Island deals it's a corrupted place where only the people who says yes without questioning will get the benefits of everything but since we keep on questioning they are targeted it wasn't just the abduction but it was also the fact that the entire state failed I think that was even harder the realization that when something happens to you the people who are entrusted with your safety don't care I think that was even harder [Music] [Music] the government has sold Islands cheaply all over the Maldives today in the greater Mali at all there isn't a single Lagoon left to develop all through the I was informed more than sixty islands were given out it's not on the islands shallow lagoons that scattered all over the Maldives everything has been salt one of the murkiest deals was for the island of Marga this is the place that the gonna circle around one see without a car Margeaux itself it could easily fetch 10,000,000 Lister's if you put into the proper tendering process only 2.5 million was received to the government the buyer was new mood resorts led by Italian Gian Andrea Tosi according to a report by the Maldives Auditor General the deal broke the law because there was no open bidding forged documents also emerged surrounding the deal they involved companies linked to the vice president's uncle we've shown our evidence to an anti-corruption analyst the money ended up in an account controlled by a company that was involved with the family member of the Tourism Minister again that's really classic case of corruption where you mix business family members politics and money goes missing they basically designed these transactions to look Lomo but in fact this classic drug designed to steal public funds a Deeb's phone messages show the deal involved a Maldivian gangster known as TC Dave weeks after the deal was done the details came out had Eve asked TC Dave if he was behind the leak bro Tasi or your guys are giving this info no don't think so if you know we made a deal but figures and transactions the Auditor General's report suspected corruption despite that workers are building 99 villas a resort is due to open in 2017 under the banner of Italian hotel chain Baglioni the government is selling these islands on behalf of the people of the Maldives you need to really look at the basis of those deals and start questioning is this a fair transaction have the people of the Maldives got the deal that they should have done all those companies who got this Islands do not have the right to get this island in the first place so the government of Maltese should take back these islands ugly oni hotels say they were not aware of any corruption in the island deal new mood resorts and Gian Andrea Tosi deny any involvement in the corruption and say they did not take any documents or transactions the Auditor General's report concluded that money was stolen from a total of at least 59 Island deals the amount of money involved in this is huge without realizing the corruption went right to the top the Auditor General submitted his report to the president even I personally informed him he basically ignored everything they just changed the law and then Virginia law was removed from Sophos it was me following publication of this report eleven members of my family received death threats they weren't idle threats corrupt police officers informed vice-president Adeeb of the audit and they conspired to silence another voice you guys need to focus on this Auditor General no worries maybe we need to light up his office as he is continuously making trouble for us we checked that place lots of cameras everywhere okay but you need to blast it at any cost sure let's do it but need to blast it at any cost oh my god oh my god these guys weren't trying to blast our face with two hundred staffs my god crazy state-sponsored terrorism against its own people and institution how could they do this such a dirty government I never imagined [Music] let's do it there's come from s-so police let's do it I think the reason why this thing was going on I warned them I'm going to publish the report so they are trying to stop us from publishing this report I never knowed it was actually organized at this level and then more dis police service who is supposed to be there to protect observers would be behind these things and unbelievable in part to president yaw means impunity grows and so do the deals we confront men involved in using the Maldives to shift up to 1.5 billion dollars so do you help people launder money my god how can you even see that see it the masses how can you even see them 1.5 billion dollars of physical cash is pallet loads of money it's something from a James Bond film [Music] in part one we discovered how president yameen Abdul Gayoom has turned the Maldives into a mafia State men biking bags of cash around the Capitol for the president and his cronies he has conquered the whole system later a plot to move up to 1.5 billion dollars in cash we reveal the Asian businessmen involved much as they say money's dirty I didn't deal with us and Russell a decade ago the Maldives was a place of optimism and reform 30 years of one-party rule had ended Mohamed Nasheed became the country's first democratically elected president in 2008 with stunts like an underwater cabinet meeting he cultivated a global profile as climate campaigner if more lives can't be saved today we do not feel that there is much of a chance for the rest of the world [Music] but Nasheed's future was to be shaped by events in one of Asia's major financial centers his officials detected a massive fraud it started in Singapore but it would end in the Maldives that was a very big scandal and the amounts involved in those transactions in that corruption is also very very big it concerned the Singapore branch of the Maldives state trading organization from the 90s until 2005 yamin was in charge Yaman was the Chanin the Sto he formed an oil company registered in Singapore this company was selling oil to Burma it had the hallmarks of fraud so mold Yves police worked with Singaporean officers to investigate machines government launched a court case which would soon implicate Yamin we have obtained two thousand pages of legal papers they lay out president yar means role the alleged fraud adds up to over a hundred and forty million dollars the sto imported oil to the Maldives Yamin allegedly helped divert some of it to Myanmar's military junta an additional secret company was set up the sto invoiced Myanmar so did the secret company its profits were embezzled this is a way of siphoning off money seemingly for their own enrichment when you control lots of the levers of government you can abuse those levers by profiting from from the money that the government is taking in by 2012 Nasheed's officials had the evidence in place to charge Yamin with fraud they were ready to take the case to trial then at home a mutiny Mohamed Nasheed was ousted marched out of the president's office [Music] on the day of the cool we were just about to announce some of the details of that case I was under threat I was at the Persia and I was forced to resign [Music] and while certainly Yaman himself was reading away from the unrest the new government stopped the investigation the case was quickly closed and the paperwork locked away yamin had got away with it a year later he was president and his first target his old adversary mohamed nasheed was arrested in February 2015 a month later sentenced to 13 years in prison yummy and turn the tables on the sheet our evidence suggests president yameen personally chose the length of Nasheed's sentence the vice president's driver describes in secretly filmed video how it was done that be national sentence they've called me and told me to keep let out like I'm in there and he gave me some gelatin not and I just offered it it was a two-disc so I just went and gave body it was just nothing then he just fell president didn't fall there's something has to be changed deeply listen this so it appears that your sentence of 13 years for terrorism was ordered directly by the president well it's sad not not only because I've been unlawfully and illegally held for so long and my family has been uprooted from my home I have had to leave the molders all of these politically motivated sentences are being driven directed by President Yami I've been told at the same but you've of course proven it beyond doubt that these sentences arm dished out by the President himself so if I was arrested tomorrow in the mortgage what hope do I have of a free and fair trial zero what if you do any little thing that challenge the existing power status corps then you are done then you go into jail then you can sit there this is not an independent judiciary at all it's judicially hijacked by the executive by the president it's probably the most corrupt institution in the country in power and with their rival in prison the Maldives became a playground for president Yami and his deputy a deal they stepped up the scale of their ambitions phone messages photos documents and emails reveal in new plot I am trying to bring 1 billion US dollars for a project the total soon rose to 1.5 billion it was hard currency 1.5 billion dollars of physical cash is pallet loads of money this is stuff that physically weighs a lot the fact that they're bringing this in in physical cash is a huge red flag of money laundering vice-president Adeeb worked on the project with three of the president's closest aides including his nephew they laid out an island investment plan to a group of secretive businessman the tourism ministry sent the men lagoon coordinates they outlined a resort investment scheme for an implausibly large 1.5 billion dollars but it was a ruse to make the plot appear legitimate the government is making a cover story of giving us a project development but that the funds will be brought the middle man was Singaporean tan Kuan Yew he replied to ministers spelling out the details of the scheme when the physical fund arrives in Maldives we need support from the Maldives Monetary Authority to secure the fund from the aircraft at bank premises for verification counting and ensure immediate credit to our bank account the cargo was the equivalent of 12 pallets piled with hundred-dollar bills the plan was to fly it into the Maldives soldiers then escort it to a vault where it is verified and counted the Maldives central bank then credits a private bank account then the money looks clean and can be transferred out bit by bit after the account is credited 10 million u.s. dollars will be telegraphed transferred to Singapore or Hong Kong the balance will stay if I can't find suitable usage after six months the money will be telegraphed transferred out flying in 1.5 million dollars in hard cash saying that it's going for a development and then moving it on this amount of money and in physical cash I think is quite unusual I haven't seen an example of this amount of cash being in order through a central bank before it's something from a James Bond film vice-president Adeeb gave one possible explanation of where the money was coming from and the central bank governor said it could be done it's all fly capital people want to move here mostly since Indonesian elections a lot of offshore oil trade money if they can provide the details of the source of the funds and the legitimacy of earning we can find a way it seems as though those at the very top of the government were involved in this supposed deal to move this money there are examples of lots of countries where the government is effectively run by crooks [Music] emails and text messages show tan Kuan Yew was representing secretive finances a mysterious boss referred to only as mr. hands a mining and energy investor Indonesian Rossi haiku a British educated Indonesian who runs an iron ore mine Abdul Hakim Hadi here he's pictured with the Malaysian architect of the deal fides an Hasan he spun the web of front companies through which the money would be laundered fides ons Facebook account shows he was in Iran in early 2015 the time of the plot and this email from Thanh Kuan Yew suggests the cash came not from Indonesia but Iran we caught up with mr. fides an in a luxury mall in the Malaysian capital mr. Pfizer my name's will Jordan I'm from Al Jazeera's investigative unit I wanted to talk to you about the Maldives and about cash flying into the Maldives under your company city trust an administrator you know anything about that but still there's a lot so do you know time fine you thank when you I've done quite knew quite a new honey tank on you from Singapore oh he has a company called idea 5 tan star I've heard I've met him before not all Hakam Hardy how come a TSO cousin Legion what's your relationship with him uh he's is he comes back to our office I'm Rosie honey a kook of course I've I've I've met him before he's an Indonesian guy so we have evidence of a plot to fly in hundreds of millions up to 1.5 billion dollars in cow as Megamall lives yeah that's a lot of money and transfer it to the State Bank of India huh and from the state to an account under the name of city trust an administrator there's a lot of money and it looks like money laundering why would anyone want to move that kind of gladly where would I want to do a yeah are you trying to make cash into the molded I mean I've been doing this business for 35 years and I go to do such things so do you help people wound the money my god how can you even say that see it my faith how can you even say that sir do you offer a service in which I can bring large amounts of cash to you and you will clean it for me huh no way absolutely not absolutely not but that's not what mr. fides and had told our undercover reporter minutes earlier hi mr. pizer how are you how many recognize me I've seen your picture he met Mr fides an under the guise of being an investment executive with a number of very wealthy clients and so the time for you to take that with you no thank you we basically look after high net worth individuals we told him our clients were looking to move large amounts of cash had political connections and wanted total secrecy this strongly suggests corruption and should raise red flags but for mr. fides an it was business as usual some of these individuals very substantial sums some of it similarly some of its in cash and I know that might be an issue no okay oh sorry I was reading that the businessman appeared well-connected we don't reckon he's well he know how he's a novel I didn't know Davis mr. fides an outlined what he could and what he couldn't do for us my chest they say when he's dead me me I don't deal with I didn't deal with arms and drugs how long as they don't sell arms my conscience is clear the conversation turned to money-laundering Roger how do you get around the issue of cash I mean if we have looked very large quantities of cash have you Bossier well it's pretty sizable see a good 500 well not that big but then that's what Big Mac seriously that's a physical and that physical transaction is is future achievable Wow what coating wells here is would be euros and sterling that is that okay because your dollars can be quite tricky because of the your social - the end of time - comes out to clear your plan for hitting is there but here is a much easier so much it really he had one concern that the deal was so large it would disrupt the euro currency market although of yours the placement rate is not as fast because market cannot absorb so yes immediately like you can be there the deal involved absolute secrecy hiding our names behind several shell companies let's put it this way I play some of these structures to up to seven layers really yeah so bill is the jurisdiction but this is a huge as I say seven dollars which we haven't going to have to go to get the identity I officially given at the end of it of it the identity of the owner is actually a foundation remaining goes more and one foundation they come back to me Isaiah so you know and this actually a Panama foundation right I'm is it still the dirty money would go through a central bank in the region you'll come to a country in Asia so I can see for now and I'm gonna show Jerry to include supper bang everything mr. fides and told us we have misunderstood his comments and taken them out of context finds an hassan tank when you Abdul Hakim Hardy and Rossi Chania Kubb deny any wrongdoing in the plan to transport cash and say no money was moved we have discovered from secretly filmed confessions our men on mopeds delivered stolen money bags of cash to a corrupt political class mostly the people that I have meant and given cash is the most senior members of Yami Schoen Ahmed is far Ali was part of a front company used to steal government money actually mostly we don't technically I just fooled them enough they just tell me idea and I say just going for me Mohammed Latif aka Moho ran the front company listen yelling do not listening because I was in world I was there I was managing some of their funds in this paying in slip the names been blacked out but it can still be recognized half a million dollars to president yameen to his account at the Maldives Islamic bank check number 247 Moho paid it in the vice president asked me to deposit a cheque to the president's account directly to his account I did two transactions I noticed it it was on froztok it was transferred that day within three hours to get account given money to impress King you say Mohammed aka was vice president to Deeb's driver he delivered the president's money on a moped huge sums of cash in black sports bags the vice president made the arrangements and eliminating they receive this money sometimes he returned you go and give to president for the Prince Liam details look Emma difficult one time Liam looks angry the just text me and asked me to give hundred so I thought it was hundred thousand so I took two bundles it is 50/50 and Yaman my he himself came down so I just give the money it was necklace in it the fish to me because if you give one media Naga spoon permeated so again I have to go to the abacus then I came [Music] I'm in 2015 vice-president Adeeb had accumulated money power and three gold iPhones he traveled all over the world meeting leaders like China's premier his plan was coming together he had installed a friend as prosecutor general effectively placing himself above the law haha after that my power is complete a deep even tried to get a gun and two dozen bullets bro what do you have now nine-millimeter silencer how many bullets how many do you want 24 okay delete all the messages bro for safety for both I will but the vice-president had risen too far too fast in October 2015 a blast hit the president's yacht the first lady was hurt and president yameen blamed a deep the vice-president was sentenced for terrorism but was he behind the blast we have obtained these previously unseen forensic reports lacking expertise the government called in American FBI investigators and Saudi specialists both found no conclusive evidence that there was a bomb they suggested it was an accident which in turn suggests the president used the blast as an excuse to remove his closest rival we have seen him in operation we have seen him purging his own government he has arrested two or three of his own vice president a number of his own ministers anyone and everyone who expresses different opinion in somewhere being punished now that there is no exception to this before vice president Adeeb could be arrested he handed his phones to an ally who sneaked them out of the Maldives a source copied the contents to us [Music] the phone leaked documents and recordings have revealed a Paradise Concord corrupted and stolen the system has completely failed I mean in such a small place where everyone knows everyone it's very easy to corrupt the entire system it's like a game operating at the top of our government president Yamin is involved policing world central banking world Parliament in world and judicial in world there is no future for the country so there is no future for acid everybody is afraid the Maldives is being sold out by these few people who are making money out of the beauty of that country the country has been stolen bit by bit since Yamin has come into power he has this need to sell off the country and collect money I will say to him that you do not have the right to stay in power now you have lost legitimacy and you are in my opinion one of the most corrupt incapable and autocratic leader we can ever get [Music] you [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 2,984,684

Keywords: stealing paradise, Abdulla Yameen, Mohamed Nasheed, Ahmed Adeeb, Abuse of Power, maldives documentary, uncovered corruption in the Maldives, maldives independent, paradise papers, Investigate paradise, al jazeera english, maldives president, maldives united opposition, political elite, difficult to carry, corruption in Maldives, al jazeera, aljazeera, aljazeera english, aljazeera live, aljazeera news, islands in maldives, maldives resorts

Id: 15N9K3wXh0Y

Length: 48min 36sec (2916 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 06 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/minnabruna]

Note to self: Never visit the Maldives.