Land fraud: discrepancy between Fazul's statement and police report on disputed plots
For some plots, documents have been submitted through the portal to obtain building permits
Fazul Rasheed, MD of HDC
A discrepancy has come to light regarding the recently unfolded case of alleged illegal land allocation by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to individuals not included in the ‘Binveriyaa scheme’.
It has been reported that there is a discrepancy between the number of plots reportedly involved as stated by HDC’s Managing Director Fazul Rasheed and the report compiled by the Maldives Police Service (MPS).
At a press conference held by HDC on Wednesday night, Fazul's statement revealed that the plot illegally allocated to his elder brother Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, was sent to the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development for verification, and permission was even granted to build a boundary wall.
Following Wednesday’s press conference, some journalists visited the area of Hulhumalé Lot Number 20768, a 1,250 square foot plot mentioned in the letter sent to Minister of Housing, Land and Urban Development Dr. Ali Haidar. They observed that a boundary wall had already been constructed around said plot. During Wednesday's press conference, Fazul strongly defended the matter. According to Fazul, the issue involved only two plots and a total of six people.
However, at a press conference held on Thursday, MPS officials stated that so far, issues with three lots have been identified. The police also mentioned that documents suspected of being forged have been submitted in connection with the cases.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Shareef said that the police began investigating the case to verify the authenticity of the documents. He also stated that as people who received land continue to submit documents through the portal to obtain their plots, additional issues with said plots are being identified.
Shareef said that for some plots, documents have been submitted through the portal to obtain building permits. He added that based on how the documents were submitted, it appears that submissions were made under the names of multiple individuals for the same plot.
Further, other inconsistencies in Fazul's statements regarding the issue have been noted.
For instance, during Wednesday's press conference, in response to a journalist's question, Fazul clearly stated that none of these plots had a boundary wall constructed. However, photos and videos of the area clearly show that the plot given to Fazul's brother, Fazeel, has a boundary wall built around it.
At the press conference held in response to public criticism over the emergence of the illegal land allocation issue in Hulhumalé, Fazul was unable to answer many of the questions posed by journalists.
