Maldives Customs Service denied the claims made by Minister Haidar and laid out the chronology of communications between the Housing Ministry and the agency in relation to the 100 flats promised to be allocated for Customs' employees.
Maldives Customs Service today refuted the statement made by Housing Minister Dr. Ali Haidar Ahmed yesterday at the parliament's Petition Committee, in which he said that the 4,000 flats allocated to be issued under the 'Gedhoruveriyaa' [homeowner] scheme does not include the 100 flats dedicated for employees of Customs.
A memo signed and issued by the newly appointed Commissioner General of Customs Fathimath Dhiyana said that the decision to include 100 apartments for Customs within the first 4,000 apartments to be issued under the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme was first communicated by the President's Office on 19th September during former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration.
The memo further said that Housing Ministry notified Customs via a letter on 25th October that 85 three-room apartments and 15 two-room apartments have been allocated for the organisation, following the decision by the President's Office.
"When the ministry informed Customs to assign units to employees who should get the flats after providing individual unit numbers for the 100 flats, the units were assigned to employees and the list was created as per Customs' policies, which was sent to the Housing Ministry on 16th November 2023," the memo reads.
Following this, Housing Ministry informed Customs via letter that individual employees would by contacted by Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) to proceed with the agreements, said Customs. As such, Customs requested FDC via email on 17th November to have the agreements made, the memo reads. This is the same day President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu took oath.
Customs further said that this information and updates were relayed to the Housing Ministry with a request to inform the Ministry's decision regarding the flats. However, the organisation said it never received a response on the matter.
Dhiyaana, in the memo, also highlighted that a meeting was held with the Housing Ministry on 18th March in response to a request by the President's Office to submit the options being considered by Customs following discussions with both Housing Development Corporation (HDC) and the ministry.
"It was agreed to get the land needed to build apartments for Customs employees from HDC during the meeting, and that the 100 flats allocated for Customs employees within the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme will proceed without change," the memo explained.
Dhiyaanaa also wrote that doing what is necessary to ensure the rights of the agency and the welfare of its employees will be her top priority. She also assured that all necessary efforts will be made to acquire that 100 apartments and land required to build apartments.
Speaking on the matter yesterday at the Petition Committee, Minister Haidar said that the current government is investigating the list of the initial 4,000 applicants announced as the recipients of apartments which was opened for applications in 2022 by the former administration. However, these flats do not include the 100 apartments dedicated for Customs, he said.
He went on to say that if there is an agreement between Customs and Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) which is building the flats, then that agreement would be honoured by FDC.
"However, we have not seen anything reserved for Customs employees among these 4,000 flats," he said.
"When we discussed the matter with Customs, we noticed that Customs did not have much interest in getting flats for their employees among these [apartments]."
Last year, Customs said that they conducted an internal evaluation and sent a list of 100 employees from the institution as requested by the Housing Ministry. At the time, officials of the Housing Ministry confirmed that the 100 individuals would be included in the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme.
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