The President’s Office has revealed that investigations into the Sea Life Global scam which saw the company violating agreements made with locals to sell properties being constructed, will proceed even if the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) recovers the buyers' payments from them.
While Chief of Staff at the President’s Office, Ali Zahir revealed this, the initial agreement between HDC and the government was to reimburse the 203 individuals who had paid for apartments at the 3,000 housing units to be developed under the agreement between Sea Life and two Dubai firms.
It was also agreed to give them housing units under government housing schemes. Most of those who paid to purchase the flats had given both the booking fee as well as the down payment.
While the government drew heavy public criticism after the agreement to reimburse the victims, Zahir via twitter revealed that the money is from the advance payments deposited by the buyers and that it will be adjusted from the Performance Guarantee of Sea Life regarding the completion of the flats. He added that it does not “in any way” mean that Sea Life is free of their financial obligations.
Further, he said that the government agreed to provide financial statements through the HDC in order to protect the rights of the buyers.
Complaints regarding the housing scam was filed by the prominent lawyer Mariyam Shunana, at Maldives Police Service and the Anti-Corruption Commission as early as October 2018.
The five-year project between the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and Sea Life Global was announced back in 2014 and is a joint venture between the company and two Dubai firms. Under the agreement, Sea Life was tasked with developing 3,000 housing units and offices, they had earlier announced several dates on when the flats would be completed. Any work on the construction of these flats however, are yet to commence.
Sea Life’s Managing Director Ahmed Moosa Mohamed is a close associate of former President Abdulla Yameen. A red notice has since been issued to locate Mohamed, who is living in Sri Lanka.
In March, the presidential inquiry commission on asset recovery began investigating the housing scam by Sea Life Global.
