Akram and Committee Members deny charges in flat allocation case

Former State Minister of Housing, Akram Kamaluddheen, and several members of the Flat Committee have today denied the charges filed against them in connection with the irregular allocation of flats to ineligible applicants under the previous administration's 'Gedhoruveriyaa' scheme.

The Prosecutor General's (PG) Office stated that charges were filed against the four individuals for improperly awarding points to some applicants for land and flats, and for including ineligible individuals in the temporary and permanent lists of flat recipients, contrary to the established guidelines. They are charged with misuse of official capacity.

In addition to Akram, the other individuals charged are Flat Committee Member and former Senior Executive Director of the Housing Ministry, Mohamed Aarif; Ahmed Vishal Naseem, Supervisor of the Gedhoruveriyaa Scheme Verification Process; and Lirugham Waheed, Supervisor of the Gedhoruveriyaa Scheme Verification Process.

During the hearing at the Criminal Court today for the four defendants, all of them pleaded not guilty to the charges. Akram's legal counsel, Noorussalam Aboobakuru, stated that Akram did not take any action to award anything to an ineligible person, and that Akram did nothing against the regulations.

The lawyer added that Akram did not misuse his official post or capacity in any way, and therefore, they deny the charges brought against him by the state.

Following the denial of charges by all four defendants, the State presented the evidence against them. The presiding judge, Adam Mohamed, granted a period of time today for the submission of defense evidence and pre-trial motions. The next hearing in the case will be scheduled after this period expires.

As the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the police are currently investigating the 'Binveriyaa' and 'Gedhoruveriyaa' schemes, the passports of Akram and some other senior officials from that time have been seized.

The case involving the allocation of flats to ineligible people comes after the Housing Ministry also requested the ACC to investigate a separate issue where 300 flats were given to 75-point holders without drawing a lot for the 76-point holders. This issue, which surfaced during the flat agreement signing stage, involved a request to investigate the allocation of flats in violation of the guidelines, benefiting certain individuals.

The Ministry stated that it was noted that 315 people who scored 75 points were allocated flats without drawing a lot for the 301 people who scored 76 points or more.

The publication of the list of 4,000 flat recipients under the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme by the previous administration brought major issues to light. Many individuals submitted complaints to the ACC. After investigating the complaints, the ACC reported that there were errors in the flat allocation for 60 percent of the individuals on the list.