Five more plots of land have been sold in Hulhumale' under concessional arrangements similar to how a land plot was sold to Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Managing Director Fazul Rasheed's wife.
Zulfeena Rasheed submitted a bid for a land plot when HDC announced the sale in Hulhumale' Phase Two in 2017. She was ranked 40 in the list of bidders. She was unable to buy the land as the sale was done with only 36 bidders.
Four years later in 2021, she filed a case in the Civil Court seeking an order to sell her the land. While the case was pending, a stay order was sought to stop the sale of more land in Hulhumale'. However, neither the Civil Court nor the High Court issued the stay order.
The ruling in the case also came against Zulfeena. The court ruled that there was no basis for ordering the HDC to sell the land to Zulfeena. The ruling was not appealed and when the government changed in 2023 and Fazul became HDC's MD, one of his top priorities was to sell the land to his wife.
A 2,140-square foot of land was sold to Zulfeena for MVR 11.7 million including GST in the most expensive beachfront area of Hulhumale' Phase Two. The value of the land after deducting GST is MVR 10.2 million. The money is repayable in 60 months (five years). That is MVR 185,366.18 per month with GST.
“This has never been the rule followed in selling land in the history of HDC," a senior official of the company said.
Timeline of the case
- Land open for sale in Hulhumale' Phase Two on January 4, 2017
- The list of bidders was announced on February 6, 2017
- Zulfeena was informed of the selection on February 9, 2017
- The case was filed in the Civil Court on May 20, 2021
- A stay order to stop the sale of additional land was filed on January 24, 2022
- The Civil Court ruled that the stay order could not be issued, on February 2, 2022
- High Court upheld the Civil Court decision
In 2017, Zulfeena offered to buy 2,000 square feet of land. The price she offered for the bid was MVR 5050 per square foot. Although the area where the land was to be allocated cannot be confirmed, it can be confirmed that the price of the land Zulfeena bought from the beachfront was MVR 4,811 per square foot excluding tax.
HDC's Public Relations Assistant Manager Mohamed Siraj told Adhadhu that the arrangement to pay off the money in five years was made due to a court order.
“The land was sold to [Zulfeena Rasheed] and five others in accordance with a court order,” he said.
However, the civil court did not order the HDC to sell the land to Zulfeena or anyone else.
The HDC did not disclose the names of the five others who bought the land on a concessional basis. Along with Zulfeena, five others did not get land from the 42 people who applied for the 2017 bid for land.
According to the rules, 36 plots of land were allocated at the time. The court website does not show that others who did not get the land filed cases in court.
Fazul did not respond to phone calls or WhatsApp messages seeking comment on the sale of land to Zulfeena.
Fazul Rasheed.
No ruling to sell land!
The decisions of the judicial courts of Maldives have been published on the websites for many years. Although the HDC claims that the land was sold to Zulfeena because of a court order, there is no such order in the Civil Court or on the websites of the High Court and the Supreme Court.
The court did not order HDC to sell any land to Zulfeena. The fact that the bid security was withdrawn indicates that Zulfeena believed that the transaction had ended despite the case being filed in court.
Corruption?
The land was sold to Zulfeena in violation of HDC rules.
According to the information sheet of the land currently open for sale, those who pay the price of the land in one lump sum have been given 30 days to make the payment. Those who buy land with a bank loan have 90 days to submit a certificate of loan settlement after paying 25 percent of the price within 14 days.
No one has been given five years to pay for the land.
So the sale of land to Fazul's wife and five others under the special rule could be seen as an abuse of authority under the Prevention and Prohibition of Corruption Act.
titledesc
The sale of a total of six plots under a special rule is acting in a way other than what would benefit the people or the state. That is also an offence under the Prevention and Prohibition of Corruption Act. The punishment for such an offence is imprisonment for a maximum of five years or deportation or house arrest.
If the land had been sold in accordance with the normal procedure, the HDC would have received more than MVR 50 million by now.
titledesc
While there are such serious allegations, no relevant authorities have announced that they are investigating any of these cases.
