Report: Soodh
Hill & Knowlton was a public relations firm hired by the government to polish the government’s image Former Foreign Minister Dr. Shaheed has said. Dr. Shaheed further said the government had a contract with the PR firm and that Finance Ministry was the government agency that paid their due fees. Dr. Shaheed said so in an interview given to Miadhu Daily in response to an allegation by Information and Legal reform Minister Mohamed Nasheed.Nasheed in his own web blog has written that he has photographs of some documents which he claimed were documents which indicate illegal transactions done when Dr. Shaheed while he was the foreign Minister. When Miadhu Daily contacted Dr. Shaheed on the matter, he said that he negotiated with Hill and Knowlton by direct command from the President’s office.
“As far as I know, government made contract with Hill and Knowlton on 1st April 2004 when I was the Permanent Secretary of Foreign Ministry. The whole deal was finalized before I was transferred to the President’s office. And I was not the one who decided their fees. President’s office decided the amount. When we received H & K’s invoice while I was with the President’s office, I informed them of the receipt of the invoice. Then they are paid by Finance Ministry after approval of Abdullah Shahid or Mohamed Hussain” Dr. Shaheed said.
Dr. Shaheed said that Hill and Knowlton had a contract with the government and they did work assigned to them. After he was appointed as the Foreign Minister, the foreign Ministry was assigned the task of doing the transactions. And once H & K sent their invoice to foreign Ministry all Dr. Shaheed did was to approve that work was carried out as assigned. He said that when he was with the President’s office, his job was to help provide assistance to H & K.
“I remember being appointed as a Spokesman in President’s office in June 2004. I think the first deal done with Hill and Knowlton was in 2001. But I know that government first attempted to hire a foreign company to clean its image in August 2001. It was stopped when the world forgot about Maldives after 9/11incident. Then when Evan Naseem was murdered in prison, government was at a loss and they hired Hill & Knowlton to “clean their faces”. It was done by the President’s office. I was then the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Ministry” Dr. Shaheed said.
Dr. Shaheed said that Legal Reform Minister Nasheed was not aware of how the government dealt with H & K and is even not aware of how government handled its financial transactions.
“Finance Ministry paid for them. What Nasheed doesn’t know is that we do not pay to foreign companies from our foreign currency account the way we pay to local companies by the Minister writing a cheque. MMA will send money to the foreign currency account. MMA will send them when Finance Ministry tells them to do so. This was also done the same way. When invoice is sent to Finance Ministry, they would ascertain that this money is being taken for right purpose and then MMA will send money to H&K. Nasheed thinks that the Foreign Ministry pays for them. This shows how much he is not aware, though he is the Information Minister” Said Dr. Shaheed.
Dr. Shaheed said that even when he resigned from office, there were some unapproved invoices from H&K at Foreign Ministry.
“Invoices from this March to June will be in the foreign Ministry as they were not approved. That money will not go to H&K” Dr. Shaheed said.
In Nasheed’s blog, he has written the text messages exchanged between him and Dr. Shaheed. In a text message sent 19 of June 2007 Minister Nasheed inquires “Is it true that hnk has been paid pounds [---] k n [---] k for the last 6 months of 2006. n what is project druid?”
According to Minister Nasheed’s blog Dr. Shaheed responds by saying “That’s a lot of rubbish”.
Although Nasheed did not mention how much Dr Shaheed paid for H&K, Dr. Shaheed has told Miadhu Daily, the amount which the government has been paying to H&K.
“The common fee or the retainer fee paid to H&K was 29,000 Pounds. It was for London, 18,000 Euros for Brussels. Other than that, there are expenses for special projects. For a Presidential visit, the President’s office had to pay as I remember 25,000 pounds since they hired body guards. And for a project named Druid, I remember an invoice of 25,000 pounds” Dr. Shaheed said.
Dr. Shaheed said that it was against a Minister’s oath if Nasheed did not report to the relevant authorities when he is in possession of such documents.
“He said that he has documents since June which proves that I committed a offense. It is his oath’s responsibility that he looks after the problem. He also stayed as the interim head of Attorney General’s office since August 5th until Azima took office. So, if a minister of the nation has such documents that someone committed a crime, it is his responsibility to inform relevant authorities. He did not look into it because he had nothing. Now he says he have these documents because I am challenging President Gayoom, because I have asked to swear by Allah in the case of Hussain Salah, without lying. He wants to stop the talk of Hussain Salah that is why he is talking about this” Dr. Shaheed said.
Dr. Shaheed said that he does not believe that Minister Nasheed said that “resignation from post is not an escape from responsibility” was meant for him.
“When shares of STO were sold, I want to know who bought them. When I was in government, I could not find it. All who have to be responsible has to be held responsible. I have not done such a thing which I have to be responsible about” Dr. Shaheed said.
Minister Nasheed in his blog wrote that he believed that Dr Shaheed left the cabinet due to the pressure that was put on him by the imminent no confidence motion, presence of sensitive documents in the hands of unfriendly parliamentarians, and the certainty that those documents would be talked about in the debate on his no confidence motion and that Dr. Shaheed‘s resignation had nothing to do with the President blocking work on reform.
According to Dr.Shaheed because of H&K, Maldives benefited a lot .
“H&K played a great role in increasing EU’s aid to Maldives. In 2004, EU called to cut aid to Maldives. But H&K started work and within a year, EU was the organization who granted most aid to Maldives” Dr. Shaheed said.
When a responsible Minister of the government has talked about such a matter, MPs should clarify how this happened, said Dr. Shaheed.
“When a government minister very irresponsibly is talks about such things the government stands lose face. Government image will be tarnished when responsible government officers talks such nonsense. What has happened to Nasheed is that, he is angry about something written in Dhivehi Observer about his character. He has incriminating President Maumoon, not against me. He is talking against something which President Maumoon did” Dr. Shaheed
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