HDC’s board members, including MD Fazul, suspended

Housing Development Corporation (HDC)’s managing director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed, along for the rest of the corporation’s board members except for the chairperson, were suspended on Thursday, in the wake of allegations that the corporation gave land plots under the ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme to people who were not on the list of recipients.

In a statement on Thursday morning, the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) announced that all board members of the HDC, except for chairman Ahmed Nasif, had been suspended.

“The corporation’s managing director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed has also been suspended and barred from accessing the office until informed otherwise,” added the PCB in its statement.

The PCB said it made the decision in order to “make way and provide full cooperation to the investigation” being conducted by the police into the allegations.

The HDC has an 11-member board composed of:

• Ahmed Nasif, chairman
• Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed, managing director
• Azhar Abdulla Saeed, director
• Ibrahim Yoosuf Fulhu, director
• Muhammad Visham, director
• Ula Mohamed Rasheed, director
• Arif Abdul Samad, director
• Abdulla Naajil, director
• Mohamed Waheed, director
• Fathmath Mizna Ali, director
• Yoosuf Waheed, director

According to the PCB, the suspension will remain in place “until the investigation is done and this board instructs otherwise.”

The suspension comes a day after documents leaked on social media appearing to show that multiple people were given land from Hulhumale’ under the ‘Binveriya’ scheme despite not being on the list of recipients released in 2023 during the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration.

This includes Fazul’s elder brother, Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, the deputy managing director of Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC).

Documents shared with Sun by a credible source include a letter sent by HDC to the Housing Ministry dated July 24, seeking to clarify the owner of Hulhumale’ lot number 20768 – after the corporation received applications from two different individuals – one of them Fazeel - who claimed to have received the plot under the ‘Binveriya’ scheme and asked for permission to build boundary walls around the property.

In response to the letter as well as other similar inquiries, the Housing Ministry wrote back on August 15 that the ‘Binveriya’ database does not show the individuals mentioned in HDC’s letters to have submitted applications under the scheme.

The Housing Ministry also said that Hulhumale’ lot number 20768 as well as another lot – 20821 – had not been awarded by the ministry to anyone. These two plots are claimed by a total of six people.

The final list of recipients of the ‘Binveriya’ scheme publicized in August 2023 lists Fazeel as an applicant, but also shows he was deemed ineligible as he had already been awarded housing under a different social housing scheme.

However, the leaked documents show Fazeel has a land registry for the plot, signed by Housing Ministry’s director general Ahmed Vishan Naseem and dated September 11, 2023.

In a press conference held on Thursday night – as angry protestors surrounded the HDC headquarters in Hulhumale’ – Fazul denied the allegations against HDC, insisting that the corporation has no involvement in issuing plots under the ‘Binveriya’ scheme.

He also played off the implication of his brother as a mere “coincidence”, and insisted that the situation does not pose a conflict of interest.

The allegations against HDC are now the subject of a criminal investigation by the police. Investigators were seen raiding the corporation’s headquarters on Thursday evening – within hours after the corruption allegations hit mainstream media.

9,003 plots of land were awarded under phase one of the ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme, from land reclaimed or being reclaimed from Hulhumale’, Gulhifalhu and Giraavarufalhi.

In October, the Housing Ministry said it had finished the handover of plots to everyone who received land from Hulhumale’ Phase II.