At a ceremony featuring fireworks, President Muizzu and India's Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu inaugurated the redeveloped Hanimaadhoo International Airport in Haa Dhaal atoll, a US$136 million project launched during the previous administration with financing from the Indian EXIM Bank. The new terminal is equipped with an aerobridge and has the capacity to handle 1.3 million passengers annually. The president described the project as "a catalyst for unlocking the potential of the northern Maldives," urging international airlines to commence operations and encouraging businesses to invest in the northern atolls. The 2,465-metre runway was officially opened with the landing of a Maldivian A320 aircraft carrying the president and the Indian prime minister's special envoy. A Bank of Maldives US dollar ATM and counter for issuing foreign currency to travellers were also opened at HIA.
While President Muizzu claimed to have completed 70 percent of the Hanimaadhoo airport after assuming office, the opposition MDP's chairman insisted that "credit goes to [former president Solih's] administration and "the Indian government for their immense contribution to the project." The MDP celebrated the airport as "a springboard for launching the revolution of the northern Maldivian economy." Expressing the "deepest gratitude" to Indian Prime Minister Modi, MDP President Abdulla Shahid called it "ironic" for President Muizzu to inaugurate a project that the ruling party had labelled as an "Indian military initiative" while in opposition. "Construction workers were falsely called Indian soldiers, fuelling a dangerous nationalist narrative. Every Indian-supported project was politicised to inflame anti-India sentiment, turning international cooperation into a political weapon," the former foreign minister tweeted.
A letter submitted to parliament’s security services committee and shared with the media outlined detailed allegations of misconduct, abuse of authority, and corruption spanning a decade against Deputy Commissioner Farhad Fikry and Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Shifan. The whistleblowers, who claimed to be 11 senior police officers, revealed previously undisclosed details concerning Farhad allegedly destroying evidence in a 2014 rape case involving his son Mohamed Fauzan Farhad, an alleged gang member. Shifan was accused of sexually harassing female officers and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old administrative support officer last year. It alleged two other cases of assault at the Commissioner’s Office in 2018. A rape complaint filed by a female civilian employee in October 2024 was dismissed due to Shifan’s influence with the Professional Standards Command, the whistleblowers alleged. Shifan – who is alleged to have close ties to Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim – was also accused of misusing public funds during a 2018 official trip to Malaysia, where he allegedly shared a hotel room with another police officer's wife, after which he was ordered to reimburse MVR 61,990 (US$ 4,030) worth of expenses covered from the police budget. Other allegations included attempting to frame senior officers in a 2023 investigation into illegal cigarette imports, pressuring a lawyer to falsely implicate a deputy commissioner and an assistant commissioner as well as contacting journalists to spread the claims.
President Muizzu ratified amendments to the higher education law to relax the criteria for registration as a university, allowing colleges that have operated for 15 years to become a university if 10 percent of academic staff hold doctoral qualifications. A former opposition lawmaker criticised the lowering of standards and warned that certificates issued by the new universities would be "worth nothing but crap!"
The Bank of Maldives denied media reports about planning to illegally finance 206 no-bid infrastructure contracts awarded by the government last week. According to Adhadhu, the government assured the private contractors of loans to be arranged by the bank without approval from the board of directors. But the national bank said the loans would be issued in compliance with laws, prudential regulations and central bank requirements. "The bank's board and management work with complete prudence and independence," it insisted.
Auditor General Hussain Niyazi criticised the absence of cost-cutting measures in the record budget of MVR 64.2 billion proposed for 2026. Public debt will spiral and deficit spending will become unsustainable without austerity measures, he warned parliament's budget review committee.
The majority of complaints filed during the first two quarters of 2025 were related to procurement, the Anti-Corruption Commission’s statistics showed.
Former Assistant Director of Police Aishath Rasheed, sister of murdered blogger Yameen Rasheed, was wrongfully dismissed in 2017 for participating in a rally marking the disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan, the Supreme Court ruled.
