Haider asks staff to avoid doc changes, probe cooperation over land scandal
The government has suspended nine political employees of the housing ministry in connection with the investigation.
Housing minister Dr Ali Haider on Wednesday instructed employees of the housing ministry not to delete or alter any documents related to the ongoing police investigation into allegations of land being allocated to ineligible individuals under the Binveriya scheme through forged documents.
The directive was issued in an internal memo signed by Haider and circulated to all employees, including political appointees. A copy of the memo has been reviewed by Atoll Times.
The memo outlined five key instructions for employees:
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1-
Cooperate fully with the investigation.
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Refrain from deleting any documents or data related to the matter.
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Avoid altering any such documents or data.
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Abstain from any actions that could interfere with the police investigation.
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Provide truthful information to the investigators.
The government has suspended nine political employees of the housing ministry in connection with the investigation. However, the identities of these employees have not been disclosed.
The allegations first surfaced when documents suggesting irregularities in the allocation of land under the land ownership scheme were leaked on social media. The documents indicated that one of the beneficiaries was Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, brother of then-Housing Development Corporation Managing Director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed and Deputy Managing Director of Maldives Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC).
Fazeel claimed during the investigation that the land had been allocated to him by the previous government. Former government officials have denied this claim.
