Urbanco will seek the advice of the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) and the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Committee of the Parliament as some of its operations have come to a complete stop after the company was advised to halt certain operations by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) due to an ongoing investigation, the company has decided.
The ACC had, on 31 October, ordered Urbanco not to conduct any land-related transactions as the ACC was investigating alleged fraud related to such transactions by the company. However, an ACC investigation team entered Urbanco on Tuesday on suspicion that the SOE was attempting to move forward with such transactions.
ACC had specifically advised Urbanco to; suspend long-term land lease and land sale transactions; suspend land allocation in Hulhumalé to foreign parties; temporarily refrain from signing project agreements; temporarily halt projects which require Expressions of Interest (EOI)s; and to discontinue joint venture projects.
In a letter to Parliament, Urbanco said the ACC’s directive had caused significant difficulties in conducting its operations and providing services to its customers. Since the ACC order was not specific to any particular projects, the company operations are at a stand-still, Urbanco said.