MDP alleges political interference, doubts fairness of police probe

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has accused the police of bowing down to political pressure from the incumbent administration in the investigation into allegations of corruption in the award of land under the ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme, raising doubts over the fairness of the investigation.

A flurry of documents leaked on social media on Wednesday 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 MDP administration.

This includes Housing Development Corporation (HDC)’s managing director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed’s older brother Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, the deputy managing director of Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC).

While the allegations had initially been directed at the incumbent management of HDC and the Housing Ministry, the police announced on Thursday that they were investigating both former and incumbent officials of the two institutions to check for any connection to the case. Travel bans have been imposed on several officials, including Akram Kamaluddin, the former state minister for housing.

In a press briefing on Saturday morning, Ahmed Mauroof, a member of MDP’s legal committee and former undersecretary for legal affairs at the President’s Office, said that the police were deviating from standard protocol in investigating the case.

He questioned why the police were treating the people directly implicated in the case as credible witnesses.

“It is not standard practice for the police to treat information provided by people who are summoned for the investigation as credible information and pass it on to the police at face value – especially coming from a suspect in this case who forged documents to make it appear like legit official documents and submitted these forged documents to secure land,” said Mauroof.

Mauroof said that it was common sense to consider that a suspect in a case may lie to the authorities to protect themselves, and condemned the decision by the police to pass the information to the public as fact.

The leaked documents include a letter sent by HDC to the Housing Ministry dated July 24, seeking to verify 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 briefing on Thursday, the police said that Fazeel told investigators that it had been Akram who met with him and gave him the land registry document.

But Akram told reporters on Saturday that he never met with Fazeel.

Mauroof questioned why Akram was not asked about Fazeel’s claim by the police. He also questioned whether the police would readily disclose what Akram had to say about the matter.

“It is clear from how the police acted in this case that they have taken a side in this politically,” said Mauroof.

He also questioned why the police failed to conduct forensic analysis to check the validity of the land registry – given the allegations of forgery.

Mauroof said that it was standard practice to check the validity of documents before questioning those involved when investigating cases involving possible forged documents.

“According to them, the forensic lab at the Maldives Police Service is among the best laboratories in the South East Asian region. But how the police acted in this – despite the serious questions over the authenticity of the document – they talked about this document without conducting any analysis to check its validity first,” he said.

Mauroof said that forensic analysis can tell a lot – including the age of the paper and the identity of the person who signed or wrote on a document.

“But we believe they failed to do any of this and held this political press conference because they were pressured into making such urgent statements. We therefore do not believe the police will conduct a fair investigation into this,” he said.

Mauroof challenged the police to conduct forensic analysis of the documents and publicize the results.

The case is the subject of a criminal investigation by both the police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Fazeel, as well as the entire board of HDC, except for chairman Ahmed Nasif, and at least four top officials in the coorporation's management, were placed under suspension on Thursday. 

The authorities have also imposed a travel ban on at least 24 officials, including Fazul, Fazeel and Akram.

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.

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.