People's National Congress (PNC) presidential candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu paid MVR 11 million in cash to RCC for the construction of his house from savings since 2002, campaign manager Mohamed Tholal has said.
Records obtained by Adhadhu journalists show that MVR 11 million out of a first payment of MVR 13 million was paid in cash for the construction of Maafannu Dhimyaath. It was paid for the local contractor's invoice number R/1354/2017.
With paper currency of MVR 500, MVR 11 million would be 22,000 banknotes or 220 bundles of 100 banknotes each.
Tholal told Adhadhu that the cash included Muizzu's family inheritance and personal income since 2002, which had not been deposited at the bank. Muizzu previously worked as an architect, he noted.
"There won't be any money that he got unlawfully. It was money that Dr. Muizzu got from his family and wasn't deposited at the bank. And as you know, Dr. Muizzu worked privately since 2002. That was money earned as income which wasn't deposited," Tholal said over the phone, referring to the MVR 11 million in cash paid to RCC.
Muizzu is not among the shareholders of the Dhimyaath Pvt Ltd company that obtained the construction loan. An MVR 39 million loan was taken for the construction of a multi-storey building and the main shareholder was Muizzu's wife Sajidha Mohamed. The second shareholder was Muizzu's friend Abdulla Fayaz (brother of Moosa Zameer), former deputy housing minister.
Muizzu also paid equity worth MVR 8 million in cash for the construction loan taken from the Maldives Islamic Bank. If the MVR 8 million was also part of savings in cash since 2002, the total amounts to MVR 19 million or MVR 1.2 million per year in cash since 2002.
The 12-storey building in Dhimyaath was leased to Dhimyaath Pvt Ltd for 20 years.
Dollars paid as "rent" by foreign companies
Muizzu paid MVR 11 million to build Dhimyaath in 2017. During the year, a foreign company called Winrun International deposited a total of USD 24,348.77 to Muizzu's account on three occasions.
In 2018, the Hunan Construction company that built the Sinamale' bridge highway deposited a total of of USD 70,499 to Muizzu's account on four occasions during the year.
Before the dollars were deposited to Muizzu's account, the Finance Ministry paid USD 105,950 from the state budget to Hunan Construction on October 15, 2017.
Asked about the transaction, the campaign spokesman told Adhadhu that the money was paid as rent by the company for leasing Muizzu's row house.
"The dollars deposited to Dr. Muizzu's account every month were rent for two apartments leased from his row house," Tholal said.
But appearing on Adhadhu's Etherefuh program last week, Muizzu denied any illegal payments to his personal account. "There's nothing that I have to be worried about," Muizzu said at a campaign rally in Laamu Fonadhoo last Friday night.
