ACC discloses gross foul play in social housing awarding

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has disclosed gross foul play in awarding the Gedhoruveriya social housing flats to recipients.

According to the commission, supervisors had altered the details and certain applicants to render them eligible for the scheme.

At the Committee on Independent Institutions' meeting of the parliament, ACC provide its findings after the proceedings of the scheme was halted earlier in light of public scrutiny and allegations of foul play.

Vice President of ACC Abdul Salaam noted that the points for applicants were auto-generated via the Gedhoruveriya portal upon submission of documents.

He said that despite this, the individuals responsible for either approving or supervising approval of the marks had altered them in favor of specific recipients.

"The submitted documents were not sufficient to render them eligible, and in such cases, the portal's system indicates ineligibility of the applicant. However, this gets altered for favored parties during the approval stage," Salaam explained.

He pointed to an instance of an applicant confirmed to be childless via the data of Department of National Registration (DNR), who had their information altered to indicate they were a parent.

"We are aware that at some point the marks have been altered through the portal," he added.

He also highlighted instances where applicants have been marked eligible and awarded with flats, despite their documents sufficiently confirming they have not been a resident in Male' City.

The commission's investigative team assessed for attempts to resolve discrepancies, which Salaam had said were not addressed due to which the scheme was interrupted.

President of ACC Adam Shamil highlighted that council authorities had provided letters verifying applicants' residency in Male' region despite the lack of any document to support it, and noted instances where recipients have been awarded points for special needs persons in their next of kin despite the absence of such individuals in their family.

"Perhaps their [then government's] intention may not have been vile, but their conduct is wrongful which forced us to launch our investigation," Shamil said.