ACC warns of crackdown on Housing Ministry's ongoing shelter project
In a letter to the ministry, the ACC says it has received information that the project is being carried out against the commission's previous directives.
Hundreds of people have queued up outside the Housing Ministry\'s headquarters
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has warned the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure of a crackdown on their ongoing shelter program.
In a letter to the ministry, the ACC said that they will seek a court order to cease the program unless the ministry adheres to the commission's directorives.
ACC earlier suspended the program and an investigation found that the process through which plots are sold to applicants could lead to the program being exploited by authorities.
The ACC had allowed the program to continue under the condition that the ministry follows the directives. The Housing Ministry had announced that the program is continuing, on Tuesday.
Under the program, the ministry is selling 400 plots of land in the recently reclaimed 'Phase 2' area in Hulhumalé, an adminsitrative district of capital city Malé. Each plot has 1,000 square feet in area.
The ACC's investigation found that the President's Office had instructed the ministry to allocate much of the 'Phase 2' area for commercial projects, and that the plots of land are being sold to individuals so as to bolster the minsitry's 'cash flow', with a square feet being priced between MVR 300 to 400.
Hundreds of people have queued up outside the Housing Ministry's headquarters. The ministry issued a total of 500 tokens and those in the slow-moving queue have been there since Wednesday afternoon.
