Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has decided to withdraw the case filed in Civil court over Football Association of Maldives (FAM) not handing back the plot given to them in order to build a football training facility at an international standard.

FAM and HDC signed an agreement on 11th July 2018 where a 230,000 square foot plot in Hulhumale' was leased to FAM. However, as work on the plot had not progressed as per the agreement, HDC voided the agreement on 17th September 2024. 

HDC filed a case in the Civil Court against the FAM after the association failed to vacate a plot of land and settle outstanding rent following the termination of their agreement.

In its claim, HDC asked the court to order FAM to hand back the plot, pay all outstanding rent and accumulated penalties in a lump sum, and compensate the company for losses incurred as a result of FAM's failure to return the property.

While the FAM submitted a response, HDC filed a request to the Civil Court that they want to withdraw the case, reason being that they are trying to resolve the issue outside the court. HDC said that if a solution is not reached, they will press charges once more.

FAM leased the plot given to them to 15 parties, with the transactions occurring between 2021 and 2024.

While there are corruption allegations surrounding the transactions, an audit report highlighted that FAM was to claim MVR 52 million under the agreements. However, the report reads that records had shown that 40 percent of the funds had not entered FAM.

The funds that disappeared include plot slots, physical cash for the rent of building floors from five parties, receipts with signatures from a few FAM senior leaders and payment vouchers totaling MVR 14 million. But the funds had not been deposited to FAM's accounts. FAM's accounts do not show that they had received the physical cash.