Officials say RAAJJE TV used former VOM transmission tower illegally

A legal issue has arisen, after officials uncovered that RAAJJE TV, a local television channel owned and operated by some prominent leaders of the former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party, had been using the transmission towers of former Voice of Maldives for broadcasting, without paying due fees.

Ahmed Faaiz, Managing Director of MNBC said today that equipments used by RAAJJE TV for broadcasting are still affixed to the transmission towers of former Voice of Maldives. He said that permission to use the tower without any fees was given to RAAJJE TV without any documentation either.

“Former management of Voice of Maldives illegally gave that permission. There are no documented records of the arrangement, and no fees were paid. Since the day RAAJJE TV was established, the arrangement has functioned”, said Faaiz.

Faaiz also said that the equipments were first installed on the transmission towers of former Voice of Maldives for the purposes of sending test signals of RAAJJE TV when the latter was launched. However, as there was a close relationship between RAAJJE TV and the then management of Voice of Maldives, the illegal arrangement was made, said Faaiz.

Faaiz said that MNBC would discuss the matter with RAAJJE TV and rectify the wrong that has been done.

RAAJJE TV was launched after MDP came to power in 2008, and has since remained a mouthpiece for party propaganda. RAAJJE TV, formerly unnoticed, has come to limelight after MDP government fell from power on the 7th of this month, with Nasheed’s resignation as President of the country. Since then, RAAJJE TV has been conducting an ongoing campaign against the current government, claiming that Nasheed was ousted in a coup d’état.

The arrangement between RAAJJE TV and former Voice of Maldives was made when the latter was also being run, against a statutory law and also a court order, by MDP Administration.

Sun attempted to get a comment from Akram Kamaluddin, MDP Administration’s State Minister and one of the shareholders of RAAJJE TV. However he could not be reached via phone.