More top HDC officials suspended amid probe into ‘Binveriya’ corruption scandal

Top officials in the management of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) were suspended on Thursday as the police investigate allegations that the corporation gave land plots under the ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme to people who were not on the list of recipients.

The decision comes a day after documents leaked on social media appeared 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 HDC’s managing director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed’s older brother Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, the deputy managing director of Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC).

The latest suspensions come after the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) suspended the entire board of HDC, except for chairman Ahmed Nasif, earlier on Thursday. Fazeel has also been suspended by the MWSC’s board.

A credible source confirmed to Sun on Thursday afternoon that at least four members of the HDC’s senior management have also been suspended in connection to the case.

They are:

• Abdulla Faid, chief financial officer
• Ahmed Yameen, chief business officer and head of media department
• Ahmed Aiman, deputy director, real estate
• Abdulla Shuhood, IT consultant

It had been Aiman’s signature one of the leaked documents - 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.

Following mounting public pressure over the issue, Prosecutor General Abbas Shareef ordered the police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to conduct a comprehensive criminal investigation into the application, selection and issuance of housing under both the 'Binveriya' scheme and the 'Gedhoruveriya' scheme - another housing project launched during the previous administration.

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.

Meanwhile, over 15,000 people were guaranteed flats under the ‘Gedhoruveriya’ scheme. The MDP administration had released a list of the recipients of the first 4,000 units under the scheme in 2023 – but the handover of the flats was halted by the ACC following allegations of corruption in the selection process, before finally giving the Housing Ministry the go-ahead to proceed in February.

The Housing Ministry has been reviewing the list in the ten months since.

The corruption scandal comes amid mounting public frustration over the delay in handover of flats and land awarded under the two housing schemes.