K-Park agreement: HDC faces allegations of serious negligence in due diligence

Leaked documents raises serious allegations of gross negligence against the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) regarding its dealings with the Korean firm Hanbo Company Limited.

These documents bring into question HDC's accountability in the controversial mixed-use residential project in Hulhumalé, suggesting a pattern of regulatory oversight failure, ranging from neglecting to verify the developer's legal status to ignoring critical contractual deadlines.

The K-Park project commenced on October 9, 2016, following a development agreement between HDC and Hanbo Company Limited. However, a legal research obtained by Sun shows that HDC failed to perform even the most basic due diligence. Specifically, while the developer was identified as "Hanbo Company Limited" in the contract, the official seal affixed to the document read "Hanbo Tech Co. Ltd."

Furthermore, when the first amendment to the agreement was signed in November 2017, Hassan Mamdooh (Manday) signed as the Managing Director of the Korean company. The research emphasizes that it remains entirely unclear how Mamdooh attained the position of Managing Director for a company registered in Korea. On behalf of HDC, the document was signed by Dr. Fathimath Shiuny; however, no Power of Attorney or formal authorization was attached to prove her legal capacity to sign the document.

The original 2016 agreement mandated the foreign developer to re-register as a business entity in the Maldives within 30 days of signing. Despite this clear legal requirement, records from the Economic Ministry shows no such registration exists. Despite the company’s failure to register locally and its continued operation under a foreign address, HDC proceeded to sign a legally binding amendment with the them in November 2017.

The project timeline stipulated that the developer must submit detailed drawings within 60 days of the 2016 signing, with the entire project to be completed within 24 months. However, a year later, in the 2017 amendment, HDC and the developer were still finalizing the "Land and Location Map”. By the 12-month mark—when 50 percent of the project should have been completed—the exact location of the construction site had not even been officially confirmed by both parties. The documents allege that the significant delays were a direct result of HDC’s total failure to enforce these crucial deadlines.

The land sale price for the project was set at over MVR 46.2 million, later adjusted to over MVR 46.9 million in an addendum. While the developer was contractually obligated to pay this sum to HDC, legal documents suggest that this substantial financial obligation was never fulfilled.

Despite these failures, HDC’s agreement permitted the developer to enter into sales agreements and collect payments directly from buyers when just 20 percent of the construction was complete. The legal research asserts that by failing to collect land payments and turning a blind eye to repeated contractual breaches, HDC effectively facilitated a situation where the public invested their money into a fundamentally flawed and unmonitored project.

HDC has faced heavy criticism over the K-Park case. The state-owned company has yet to respond to Sun’s efforts to obtain a comment.

In 2023, Hanbo Company claimed that several K-Park apartments had been sold through fraudulent means without the company’s knowledge, with the company targeting its accusations against Manday, a Maldivian national who held a senior role in the project.

Manday and his associate Jaishan Saeed were tried for over 200 charges, collectively, for defrauding over 50 people. In December 2025, Manday received a lengthy sentence of 397 years in prison, while Jaishan received 159 years.

Now nine years since the K-Park project began, those who made large sums of payments for the flats remain without a solution for their distress. Although they have shared their grievances with both former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and current President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu—with the President pledging to find a suitable solution—the victims of the K-Park scam have yet to see a clear path to justice.