ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Thursday 22 May 2014 23 Rajab 1435 - Volume 19 Number 6073 Price: QR2 Doha Bank ICC launches plans to raise probe into capital next yr corruption leak Business | 17 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Expat gets death Qatar, Liberia sign agreements for spying on Qatar Two others sentenced to life; convicts appeal verdict DOHA: A report carried by a The trio has been charged the Philippines here told The local Arabic newspaper yester- with providing sensitive informa- Peninsula the mission has been day suggesting that a Qatari tion about the state to a country following the case and a rep- criminal court has sentenced and threatening Qatar’s national resentative has actually been a Filipino to death and two security. attending hearings. other Filipinos to jail for life in Defence lawyer for the convicts, Details of the case suggest the an espionage case has evoked Mohsin Thiyab Al Suwaidi, told main convict was a member of sharp reaction from citizens. The Peninsula that the criminal the Philippines security and was All the three Filipinos were court had been conducting this working here for a long time. working in Qatar. Comments trial for the past four years. He was providing information posted by nationals on local social “In these four years the case about special projects, invest- networking sites have called for was transferred to three panels ments, staff members, minutes not giving sensitive posts in Qatar of judges and the last one passed of the meetings of top officials with foreigners. the verdict on April 30 this year.” and plans of the company he was The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf witness the “There is no safety and security He said he had gone in appeal working for, to his country. signing of agreements between the two countries in Doha yesterday. See also page 2 for us, since key (government) and the Criminal Court of In the said Qatari company positions are with foreigners,” Appeals was set to hear the case he was working as a supervi- said a commentator on a social on May 26. sor for budgets and contracts. networking site. He claimed that the charges Investigations revealed that he Another asked how foreigners against the trio were not proved passed on the above information Three Ashghal officials jailed for graft have access to sensitive informa- as investigations haven’t led to as well as information related to tion here. any incriminating evidence. the Qatari air force, military base, One commentator said he Asked how a local Arabic types of weapons Qatar has, their DOHA: A sensational case of has upheld the remaining por- the Doha Expressway project doubted if the Philippines would daily could carry such a sensitive maintenance and servicing, staff bribery involving an Ashghal tion of the verdict of the lower worth QR220m in lieu of money. be spying on Qatar’s security mat- report since it involved national members, including their ranks (Public Works Authority) engi- court about the terminations of The manager was named as the ters and he suspected the involve- security and name the nationality and phone numbers, to a senior neer and two managers and all of them and imposing a fine of prime or first accused in the case. ment of some other countries. of the convicts, Al Suwaidi said Communications Intelligence offi- another official from a couple QR500,000 on the first convict, a He was found guilty of leaking Details of the case which Arabic the criminal court, in its verdict, cial in the Philippines. of contracting companies has project manager from Ashghal, Al the information about the value daily Al Raya carried on its front had not barred the media from The main convict got military come to light. Sharq reported yesterday. of the project worth QR220m page suggested the prime convict, covering the case. and related information about A lower criminal court sen- A report prepared by a fact to the contracting companies. who has been sentenced to death, “The sessions of the court were Qatar from two of his accom- tenced the foursome to 10 years in finding committee represented Based on this information, the was working with a major state- open and anybody could attend plices. The duo was working jail for their involvement in a brib- by the Public Prosecution and the companies priced their bids and owned Qatari company since 1993. them. The judges didn’t think that only for money. After they were ery scandal, but a higher court, State Audit Bureau was submit- bagged the contract. The manager Two other Filipinos working as the case was so sensitive,” said the caught, the police sought permis- during the hearing of an appeal, ted to the court with the state- was also convicted of extending technicians with the Qatar Air lawyer. “In Qatar, we don’t have sion from the Public Prosecution reduced the prison sentence to ments of witnesses. the deadline for the comple- Force were awarded life sentence special courts to try such cases, and conducted searches in their two years. The bribery case came The report blamed the man- tion of the project to prevent by the court for helping the main so criminal courts conduct such office, homes and even cars. to light during the implementa- ager of the said project at Ashghal the companies from being fined. convict by providing him sensitive trials, and they are open.” THE PENINSULA tion of Doha Expressway project. for facilitating two contracting THE PENINSULA information for money. Sources at the embassy of Continued on page 4 The Upper Criminal Court companies to get the tender for Continued on page 4 Mubarak jailed for three years Russia, China School fee hike approved DOHA: Two of the largest Indian schools in Qatar — MES and sign $400bn Birla Public School (BPS) — are among the private schools granted permission by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) to increase gas deal their fees during the forthcoming academic year. MES has over 9,000 students on its rolls, while the BPS has nearly BEIJING: Russia and China 5,000. All Indian schools in Qatar have started their academic year have signed a 30-year, $400bn in April and the fee hike is likely to come into force from September. deal for Gazprom to deliver A senior official of the Private Schools Office at SEC had said that a Russian gas to China in a deal number of schools had sought permission to hike the fees but about 70 that underscores Russia’s shift per cent of the applications had been rejected. A few schools have been towards Asia amid strained given permission to impose a slight hike in their fees, mostly ranging relations with the west. from 1.5 per cent to 4 percent. The two Indian schools have not issued The contract to provide 38bn a circular to parents until now about the fee hike. cubic metres of gas each year THE PENINSULA was signed by the state-owned gas companies Gazprom and CNPC (China National Petroleum Modi invites Sharif to inauguration Corporation) in the presence of the countries’ leaders, Vladimir NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi, the prime minister-elect of India, Putin and Xi Jinping, at the end has invited the leader of the country’s hostile neighbour Pakistan of Putin’s two-day visit to Beijing. to his inauguration in Delhi next week, in what analysts have hailed The Russian president — who as a bold step to launch a policy of regional engagement. has been pushing to close the deal If Nawaz Sharif were to attend the ceremony, it would be a first in after almost a decade of negotia- the history of the two states, which both have nuclear arsenals and tions — called the agreement “the Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak (right) and his son Gamal look on from the defendants’ cage inside have fought four wars since gaining their independence from Britain largest in the gas sphere during a court room in Cairo yesterday. The court handed down a three-year jail sentence to Mubarak for fraudulently in 1947. Repeated bids to improve relations have failed, though there the era of the USSR and Russia”. spending millions of dollars on his private residences. His sons Gamal and Alaa received four-year sentences. have been incremental gains over the last decade. AGENCIES But one British energy expert Report on page 7 See also page 13 warned that the move could drive up prices for European gas con- sumers who are becoming increas- ingly dependent on Russia and THURSDAY 22 MAY 2014 now face competition for supplies. Five secrets to revising that Aled Jones, director of the Rift with PLO to end soon, says Hamas can improve your grades Global Sustainability Institute at By Tom Stafford ow do you get the most out of your revision time, and end up with the best grades you can? Or, if you’re a different sort of student, how can you get the same grades you’re getting Hnow, but spend less time revising? Anglia Ruskin University, warned DOHA: Hamas leader Khaled reconciliation to take place. Israel said after the announce- “positive” discussions, according Either way, you need to know how to learn better. And fortunately, decades of research carried out by psychologists about learning and memory has produced some clear advice on doing just that. As an experimental psychologist, I am especially interested in learn- ing.