RaajjeTV has on Sunday, paid up the MVR 500,000 fine imposed on the station by Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC). 

RaajjeTV was penalized for broadcasting a statement made by Thimarafushi Constituency MP Mohamed Musthafa on July 28th during a live program. The hefty fine was slammed under the controversial Defamation Bill. This is the third fine imposed on the station this year.

The collected fine was taken to MBC premises in the fund boxes used by the station to amass the funds.

Speaking to press prior to handing over the fine to MBC, RaajjeTV Chief Operating Officer Hussain Fiyaz Moosa said they had paid the fine as the station could not appeal the fine without paying the fine. Even though the station had paid the fine, Fiyaz said the fines were imposed illegally.

Fiyaz added there will be a day when members of the Commission will be held accountable for their actions. Fiyaz, a seasoned journalist, also said there will be a day when the funds will be recovered to the station.

‘We’re being penalized unjustly, yet we won’t stop this fight to secure our right. We will get justice, Broadcom members must be held accountable,’ he said.

Fiyaz remarked that due to the fines, the station had suffered both financially and in terms of productivity.

He thanked all those who had assisted in the fund-raising efforts on behalf of the staff and management of the station.

RaajjeTV was penalized for broadcasting a statement made by Thimarafushi Constituency MP Mohamed Musthafa on July 28th during a live program.

The letter sent by the Commission said that MP Musthafa had on the program, spoken in a manner that encouraged to overthrow the current Government, encourage to carry out an illegal act, encourage a loss to the legal government and encouraged action that negatively impacted on national security and the safety and security of the elected President of the Maldives. The fine, the letter said, was levied after investigating the case.

In response to the case, RaajjeTV noted the Commission had raised three points as having violated broadcasting ethics. The second and third points, the station said were starkly different to that what was said by MP Musthafa and reported by RaajjeTV.

It noted that while the Commission had deemed MP Musthafa’s statements to be a threat to national security, laws of the nation are clear on which body can decide if a content is a threat to national security.

The hefty fine was slammed under the controversial Defamation Bill.

The controversial bill passed in 2016 had come under criticism both locally and internationally. The bill has been used to penalized RaajjeTV in the three instances. The station was first fined by the Commission by MVR 200,000 and MVR 1 million the second time.