Wataniya Telecom, a Middle Eastern telecom giant came into Maldives in 2005. When the contract was awarded a lot of Maldivian small businesses rushed to them to find work. As finding work on most of the islands is pretty hard and work is scarce, all across Maldives contractors were busy erecting towers, digging and doing construction for Wataniya Telecom so they would not miss the deadline, which was pretty ridiculous, and escape Government fines.
We have recently come to know that Wataniya or the the main contractor Fastcomms owes these contractor millions of rufiyaa and this has been in the Courts of Maldives for the entire life of Wataniya operational in Maldives. So we investigated and this is what a contractor “Ahmed” who hasn’t been paid for over 3 years has to say.
“When we heard the news that Wataniya was awarded the contract to become the second mobile operator we felt very happy as we can raise funds for our youth clubs and other activities by working as subcontractors for Wataniya. When we first went to Wataniya we were shown the main contractor Fastcomms. So as instructed by Wataniya we worked for Fastcomms”.
Who is this Fastcomms. Fastcomms is a Maldivian firm who won the contract to supply and roll out Wataniya network.
“When we didn’t get paid for over six months we filed the case against Fastcomms. But later we found out that Wataniya did not pay Fastcomms so we started to work with Fastcomms to file the case against Wataniya.”
“This case has dragged too long. Maybe because Wataniya’s Lawyer Dheena Hussain is related to the former first Lady. That is what I think. . Even the son in law of Maumoon works with Dheena .”
“But now the court has ruled that Wataniya has to give the money to Fastcomms and we will get paid then. To date Wataniya has not paid Fastcomms, even after the court ruling. So we have obtained a copy of the verdict and we want this to go to all newspapers. People should know what kind of people Wataniya is”
“I wish in this country we can file for damages. Our families have suffered because of that. Our business went bankrupt. In other countries I can file for damages”.
“We have worked with Dhiraagu during their tower project and they always pay on time. Government should not let foreign companies destroy our lives.”
“So today we have decided that we will give this verdict copy to media and tell all Maldivians what kind of a company Wataniya is”.
