Police raid Fazul's residence

Maldives Police Service (MPS) has raided the residence of Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed.

Police on Monday raided M. Zeyvaru, the residence of the former Managing Director of Housing Development Corporation (HDC) who is accused of being involved in the scandal of illegal land plot allocation under the ‘Binveriyaa’ scheme.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, police confirmed that they entered and searched Fazul's residence on Monday night.

Speaking to the station, a police media official said that they searched the residence where Fazul resides, some time on Monday night, and during the search, some electronic items were taken into police custody. However, the police did not disclose what type of electronic items they were.

The biggest suspicion in the case of illegally issuing plots falls on HDC's former MD Fazul. It is suspected that his brother, Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, the currently suspended Deputy Managing Director of Malé Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), submitted forged documents for one of the plots involved in the case.

Despite these allegations, Fazul denied these claims at a press conference held following the surfacing of the case. Briefing the press that day, Fazul claimed that his brother's involvement in the case was a mere “coincidence” and that HDC had not issued any documents. He also stated that permission to build a boundary wall on the disputed plot had “not” been granted.

Although he claimed that permission to build a boundary wall was not granted, the said plot already has a boundary wall built around it. It is suspected that Fazul's brother, Fazeel, built the wall.

In addition to the land plot issue, Fazul has also been accused of using his position at HDC to work for personal gain by taking money from businessmen. In this regard, HDC's former Chairperson Ahmed Zuhoor sent a letter to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu five months ago, shedding light on these acts of corruption.

However, Muizzu has since claimed that he did not receive the letter sent by Zuhoor.