Fazeel has land in Male', now registered to his wife

Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, MWSC Deputy Managing Director, who is accused of building boundary walls on a land plot wrongfully allocated to him, already has land in Male', part of which he has since registered in his wife's name, Mihaaru News reports.

Fazeel, and his brother HDC Managing Director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed, inherited part of M. Zeyvaruge, their father's land. A Civil Court ruling shows that the 2000 sqft land was split into eight parts.

In addition to the land he inherited, Fazeel also received a part of Zeyvaruge from his mother, the Civil Court ruling shows. Following this, Fazeel applied to the Civil Court to register half of his inherited land in his wife's name.

This case was concluded in October, with the land now registered in his wife's name.

The dates indicate that Fazeel had conducted this court process after applying for permit to build the boundary wall from HDC.

As per the Binveriya housing scheme, recipients must not own land larger than 600 sqft in the Male' area. If such a land is owned, then the recipient must agree to give up the land.

The scheme also states that the person must not have received any form of social housing, and should consent to giving up any land received through splitting a State owned land. In addition to this, any such land must not have been sold or transferred to another person's name.

Housing Ministry has previously confirmed that Fazeel was not included in the list of land recipients, nor did he meet the necessary requirements. However, he had applied for a permit from HDC through submitting a land registry in his name.

Fazeel had applied for this permit on June 30, 2024. Hence, HDC, under their standard policies, had forwarded the letter to the Housing Ministry to verify land ownership. Another individual, too, had applied for permit to build on a land plot.

The second person who applied for the permit is Abdul Majeed Mahir. While Binveriya scheme only gives land to Male' residents, Mahir's registration is in Haa Alif atoll Dhihdhoo.

In the response from Housing Ministry on August 15, they said that neither of the individuals were in the list of Binveriya land recipients. They further said that the two land plots in question had not yet been allocated to any persons.

Five months after this, these documents got leaked on social media, leading to public outrage. Subsequently, Police have launched an investigation into the case.

In relation to the investigation, Fazul and the rest of HDC's board have now been suspended.

Under questioning from Police, Fazeel claims that the land documents had been given to him by the previous government's Housing Ministry, adding that he had also met with then State Minister at Housing Ministry Akram Kamaluddeen.

Akram, however, rejects these claims and states that he has never met with Fazeel, nor conducted any such communication with him.

While Police are investigating charges of forgery against him, Fazeel too has been suspended from his position at MWSC. Both Fazeel and Fazul's passports have also been held, alongside a number of others.