Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) highlighted today that their greatest challenge in recovering fines for environmental damages is their lack of authority to take cases directly to court.
Speaking at the Parliament's Environment and Climate Change Committee, EPA Director General Ibrahim Naeem explained that recovering fines for reef damage involves cooperation with foreign countries and various institutions in the Maldives. He emphasized that the inability to directly approach the courts significantly delays the recovery process.
"EPA is not as independent as some people expect. EPA doesn't have the authority to take cases to court. EPA can't take cases to court," Naeem said.
He explained that when cases are sent to the Attorney General's Office, they often stall there as well.
"EPA can't take cases to court directly, so it gets delayed. Many cases have been parked at the AG's office for a long time. Previously, some cases were appealed to the Minister before going to court and got stuck there. So there are significant difficulties," Naeem said.
According to Naeem, the EPA can only assess reef damage once a vessel is removed from the reef. However, he noted that in some cases, vessels remain on the reef for extended periods, making it difficult to assess the damage.
"We can't even fine until the vessel is removed from the reef. So, for as long as it's left on the reef, EPA cannot do anything. EPA fines for environmental damage," Naeem explained.
He said EPA's regulation for penalties was developed in collaboration with consultants and modeled after practices in foreign countries. The penalties are based on the cost per square meter of coral damage.
Naeem noted that issues such as changes in vessel agents or ownership during negotiations after fining foreign vessels for reef damage often lead to renewed discussions and further delays in recovering fines.
Naeem also expressed concern about the insufficient budget for conducting diving operations to assess reef damage and traveling to affected areas for these evaluations. He said that after paying salaries, there are no funds left for these essential activities.
"It’s quite expensive to make these trips. We need to dive, and it’s a tough challenge whenever we have to go to these locations," he said.
Naeem explained that fining foreign vessels leads to a "battle." While these vessels bring in strong foreign consultants for surveys, the Maldives has only a few certified experts in this field.
So far, the agency has received 53 million rufiyaa from fines for reef damage. This amount was recently collected for damage to the Rasfari reef in Malé Atoll caused by a large foreign vessel. The funds have been used to purchase diving equipment, drones, and underwater cameras.
He said that over the past 2-3 years, they have recovered MVR 228 million for the state from 37 fines related to reef damage.
However, according to information provided by the EPA to Mihaaru in July last year under the Right to Information Act, over 676 million rufiyaa in environmental damage fines remained uncollected by the state from 2009 to June of last year.
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