Housing Development Corporation (HDC)’s Managing Director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed has just resigned. In a letter sent to President Dr. Mohamed Mu resigned. In a letter sent to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, Fazul denied the allegations made against him in various ways during his tenure as Managing Director of HDC and those currently being made on various platforms.
Fazul said that all the transactions he has made since his appointment to HDC have been made in the interest of the company, within the framework of the board’s decisions and the policies made in the company. Fazul said that the allegations against the company regarding the “Binveriya” scheme are not related to the company in any way. “I hope that the truth of those allegations will be revealed to the public as soon as possible. And I do not want the company’s and government’s policies to be halted because of this,” Fazul’s letter stated.
Fazul said he resigned from the position of Managing Director of HDC to allow for the ongoing investigation into the “Binveriya” scheme and to allow the company and government policies to continue uninterrupted. In the letter sent to the President’s Office, Fazul also wished the government success. In the case of giving plots to people not included in the “Binveriya” scheme run by the government of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, his passport along with 20 others have been withheld. These include some current and former officials of HDC and the Housing Ministry.
Documents that have been made public show that among those who received plots despite not qualifying for the Binveriya scheme is Fazul’s elder brother and MWSC’s Deputy Managing Director Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed. The boundary wall of the plot he received has already been built. However, in the “Binveriya” scheme list released last August, Fazeel was included as someone who did not meet the criteria. It is clear that while Fazul’s brother was on the list of those not qualifying for the Binveriya scheme, a plot registration was made for him. Both Fazul and Fazeel have been suspended in this case.
Suspecting involvement of former government officials in the plot issue, passports of former government’s Housing Ministry’s State Minister Akram Kamaluddin, Senior Executive Director Mohamed Arif, Senior Executive Director Liurgam Waheed, and current Director General Ahmed Vishan Naseem have also been withheld. While the police are investigating the case as a criminal matter, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is also looking into the case.
In a press conference held last Thursday, Fazul said that HDC will not give any land under the “Binveriya” scheme and that HDC has not done anything to exempt anyone who receives land under that scheme. Fazul said that no land has been given to anyone not instructed by the Housing Ministry. However, Fazul also said that when it was discovered that land was given to certain people under the “Binveriya” scheme, it was HDC that took the initiative to submit this to the Housing Ministry.
