The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has ordered the government to halt allocations of flats under its housing scheme. The commission issued the order after the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure released the latest list of 4,000 flats still under construction in Hulhumalé.
According to reports, the ACC has ordered the Housing Ministry to stop all activities related to the allocation including the signing of lease agreements. The order is to stand pending the conclusion of an ACC investigation.
The ACC’s investigation has revealed that applicants may have been awarded points illegally when the forms were evaluated and that the verification and authentication of information was not sufficiently carried out, reports say.
Meanwhile the Housing Ministry had begun holding draws last night with Yes TV broadcasting the proceedings live.
Several complaints have been filed with the ACC since the initial list of flat recipients was released. In response, the corruption watchdog ordered that a reasonable amount of time be given for complaints and that they be thoroughly evaluated before proceeding to finalise agreements and the handing over of flats. More than 7,000 complaints were filed within five days.
There are 13,000 people eligible for flats on the permanent list for the outgoing administration’s housing scheme out of which those eligible for 4,000 flats were initially identified. Those eligible for three-room flats were to have received a score above 76 points while those eligible for two-room flats were to have received a score above 73 points.
