Suspended HDC MD resigns 'to cooperate with investigation'

The suspended Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Managing Director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed has resigned on Saturday.

Fazul along with the board members of the corporation, with the exception of the Chairperson, were suspended last Thursday in the wake of allegations that the corporation gave land plots under ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme to people who were not on the list of recipients.

Fazul confirmed his resignation via a post on X in which he shared a screenshot of the letter sent to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

In the letter, Fazul denied all the allegations made against on various social media platforms and added all of his communications in his capacity as the HDC Managing Director were made with the approval of the corporation’s board of directors, and in adherence to the policies.

He reiterated that HDC was not involved in the ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme transactions, and urged for a prompt investigation on the matter so that the public would learn the truth.

“…and I do not wish for the policies of the government and the corporation to get halted over this,” Fazul said in the letter.

Fazul said he decided to tender his resignation to cooperate with the authorities in their investigation, and to ensure the government’s policies proceeded smoothly without any interruptions.

While Fazul has resigned as HDC’s Managing Director, local authorities have issued a travel ban on all of the suspended directors of the corporation.

The final list of recipients of the ‘Binveriya’ scheme publicized in August 2023 lists Fazul’s elder brother, Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, the deputy managing director of Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), as an applicant, but also shows he was deemed ineligible as he had already been awarded housing under a different social housing scheme.

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

In a press conference on Thursday evening – as angry protestors surrounded the HDC headquarters in Hulhumale’ – Fazul denied the allegations against the corporation, insisting that HDC 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.