Former State Minister for Housing Akram Kamaludeen has contested claims regarding the extent of discrepancies in the allocation of flats under the previous government’s Gedhoruveriya scheme. Akram asserts that the seriousness of the complaints has been overstated.
Akram and a former senior executive director at the ministry appeared before the Parliament Petitions Committee on Wednesday. They were summoned in response to a petition submitted to the Parliament concerning the allocation of flats under the Gedhoruveriya scheme.
During the session, Akram observed that only about 10 individuals actively protested outside the ministry over the alleged irregularities in the allocation process. He suggested that the number of protesters was inflated for political purposes, with the majority of those present being media personnel reporting on the event.
Akram expressed his belief that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lacked the authority to suspend the allocation of flats to the recipients. He pointed out that the suspension order was issued after the conclusion of a public and transparent process for selecting the initial batch of recipients.
The Parliament Petitions Committee is currently examining a petition related to the social housing scheme. Both the ACC and officials from the current Housing Ministry have been called up for inquiry in previous hearings.
In these hearings, the ACC disclosed its findings of manual manipulation of points during the approval stage of the Gedhoruveriya scheme, despite assertions of an automated system. This revelation has raised serious concerns about potential misconduct and abuse of authority by some officials involved in the approval process.