The truth about Gasim’s philanthropy

With 700 students studying on Villa Scholarships and thousands of patients getting treated abroad, few would even think of denying Gasim Ibrahim's philanthropic credentials. His detractors have therefore concentrated on questioning his motives and casting aspersions on how he acquired wealth, slyly insinuating that he has some undisclosed obligations to spend on welfare.

One such insinuation revolves around the loans granted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) to Villa Shipping and Trade. A popular story alleges that Villa Foundation (which grants Villa Scholarships) is a precondition set by IFC for the loans. Let us examine this allegation in detail. IFC says its work is to provide investments and advisory services to build the private sector in developing countries. It operates commercially and grants loans at market-based interest rates up to a maximum of 25% of the project cost. Eligibility criteria for IFC loans do not include establishing national scholarship schemes. The detailed eligibility criteria merely require that a project must:

• Be located in a developing country that is a member of IFC;
• Be in the private sector;
• Be technically sound;
• Have good prospects of being profitable;
• Benefit the local economy; and
• Be environmentally and socially sound, satisfying IFC environmental and social standards as well as those of the host country.
  

Gasim is not the only Maldivian borrower from IFC, nor is he the biggest. According to information currently disclosed by IFC, it has granted a total of $ 74.5 million to the Maldives private sector. This includes $ 25 million to Universal Enterprises, $ 21 million to Villa, $ 20 million to Wataniya Maldives and $ 8.5 million to Taj Hotels. (see graph above.) These are all type A loans subject to the same terms and conditions.

A related insinuation is that the loan to Gasim was secured by a Government guarantee. Funnily enough, IFC regulations prohibit the organization from accepting government guarantees. IFC relies instead on the client company's proposal and track record. IFC "fully shares risks with its partners."

According to another widely circulated story, Gasim did not become rich but was made rich by Ilyas Ibrahim. The story says Gasim became rich through a petroleum monopoly served to him on a platter by STO, when Ilyas was running the company.

Gasim says, far from favoring him, the government has constantly put hurdles in his path. In an interview to TVM's Siyaasath program, Gasim revealed how the government willfully blocked him from bagging a dealership from Sri Lanka Petroleum Company. Gasim says STO also tried, though unsuccessfully, to block his dealership with Shell for importing Rotella and other petroleum products.

To put Gasim's revelations in perspective, one must recall that the backdrop for the alleged events was the 1980s, a period during which the government followed a policy of foreign exchange controls and restrictive import quotas. STO was involved in many dealership feuds with private companies during the period, one of the most celebrated of which was the one with DIK over the dealership of Benson and Hedges.

We may never know Gasim's true motives, if any, for his philanthropy. But one thing is certain. He was already the biggest individual spender on health and education long before there was any practical hope of standing for the presidency.

Who is the real Gasim?

"If I were to ask for anyone's help other than Allah's, I swear I'd ask for yours," Gasim Ibrahim wrote to Gayoom from his Dhoonidhoo cell, while imprisoned there following the August 12-13 incident of 2004.

"The Maldivian people know who fights for their rights and who doesn't," Gasim Ibrahim thundered to his supporters during his party's congress on 22 August 2008.

Was it the same Gasim who made these two statements, and if not which is the real Gasim? Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them. But sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem. So, has Gasim become the mask he wore?

Gasim's privately owned Villa Foundation awards about 150 scholarships to young Maldivians to pursue higher studies each year. Scholars are selected to the scheme on purely objective criteria, with no influence whosoever exercised by the Chairman. More than a 1000 students have benefited from this scheme so far. Gasim's welfare scheme has funded medical treatment abroad for 1000s of poor Maldivians. Most of them have never met Gasim. Was this a truly 'free lunch"?

These two philanthropic schemes rival, or perhaps even exceed, the corresponding Government schemes. Thus Gasim stands out as the philanthropist par excellence. Is this the real Gasim?

With his sponsorship of the 2001 petition signed by 40 intellectuals, Gasim is widely credited for the birth of the party system in the Maldives. He is rumored to be funding most opposition parties in the Maldives including MDP, IDP and Adaalath. On the other hand, he is also rumored to have funded the defection of prominent opposition MPs to DRP. Which of these roles, if any, did the real Gasim play? It's said that for some people there is more to life than just having everything. Is this true for Gasim?

Gasim is also widely credited to have led the constitutional amendment process to a successful conclusion. However, it is also alleged that the finally passed draft had many inconsistencies that Gasim could not prevent. In the process of removing these inconsistencies, it is also alleged he colluded with Ibra and AG Azima to introduce into the draft phrases and clauses never passed by the Majlis. What is the truth here?

As finance minister from mid 2005 to mid 2008, Gasim presided over the biggest budget fiasco in the history of Maldives, which diverted the country's fiscal course irreversibly towards bankruptcy. Did the budget fail because the trade minister and others failed to materialize the mega projects on which the budget depended, as Gasim alleges? Or did it fail because Gasim set rashly impractical targets and gambled with the country's economy?

Gasim's Villa Group currently owns about 15 % of all tourist beds in the country. The figure could even double when resorts currently under development are opened. With massive investments at Keekimini and Maandhoo, Gasim has a controlling interest in the fisheries industry. He also has similar controlling interests in the petroleum and LPG distribution industries. With investments in nearly all types of enterprises in the Maldives, Gasim is the capitalist par excellence. Is this the real face of Gasim?

In Senate confirmation hearings for constitutional posts in the United States, candidates are asked questions designed to bring out their attitudes and ideologies. The underlying belief is that people continue to hold and practice their old beliefs and ideologies in their new jobs, like the proverbial leopard, which does not change its spots. From Gasim's past actions can we predict what sort of president he would become?

Will he be a business friendly capitalist, or a pro-poor socialist with enough courage to introduce heavy taxation to fund social services? In other words, can he run with the hares while hunting with the hounds? Will he become the Lee Kuan Yu of Maldives running a clean administration or will he become the King Fahd of Maldives running a regime of favoritism? Will he become the selfless Mandela of Maldives or the monopolist Stanley Ho (the business tycoon who practically owns Macao) of Maldives? There are telltale clues in Gasim's track record to answer these questions with reasonable accuracy.

For 30 years Maldivians depended on the noblesse of a holy man to build their security. History tells us the outcome. For the next 10 years can they depend on the magnanimity of a philanthropist to build their security? Maldivians can choose their leader; destiny will choose the consequences.

["Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences," – J. K. Rowling in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ]