ACC given access to Gedhoruverin portal for probe
Though the minister said that the ACC would be given access to the Gedhoruverin portal, it is not certain whether that access has been given yet.
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By
Shahudha Mohamed
The government has decided to give the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) access to the Gedhoruverin portal after it was found that there were discrepancies in the permanent list of 4,000 homeowners under the previous government's housing scheme.
The ACC has ordered the suspension of all activities related to the handover of the flats after the permanent list of flat recipients was released just a day before the swearing-in of President Mohammed Muizzu's government.
According to the ACC’s letter to the ministry, the order was issued after the ACC investigation revealed irregularities in the handover of the flats. They include:
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Those who are not eligible for the flat have been declared eligible and given points
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Points were given to some persons in violation of the rules prescribed for evaluation of forms
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The authenticity of the information submitted have not been verified where it was possible
Housing Minister Dr Ali Haider has announced that he will give access to the housing portal to the ACC investigation. He said this at a meeting of the National Development and Heritage Committee held on Monday to discuss the government's decision to take action on housing projects implemented by the previous government.
The Minister said that the process of allocating flats under the landlord scheme was stopped by the previous government on the direction of the ACC and the ACC is conducting an investigation into the matter. He said that he met with the ACC to discuss the matter.
After the meeting, Haider said, the ACC informed:
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To give the ACC access to the landlord portal to view all the forms submitted under the landlord scheme, the documents submitted with the forms and all the work done by the Ministry of Housing
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Access is requested to know the work done on each form submitted through the portal, who did the work, the date and time, so that all logs can be seen
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The ACC has also asked for other government agencies to be given access to the information through the portal
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The ACC has asked to give them this access in a way that they cannot add or edit any information
"We confirm those things. That is what they have told us after the last meeting," Haider said, giving the latest update on the flat list.
Depending on the nature of the investigation, access to everyone except the ACC will be cut off to ensure the authenticity of the evidence, he said.
Though the minister said that the ACC would be given access to the Gedhoruverin portal, it is not certain whether that access has been given so far. Atoll Times asked the ACC about it, but the commission did not confirm access.
The first phase of the investigation into the flat list will be completed within the next 20 days, Minister Haider told the committee meeting.
However, he noted that it would take longer if a criminal investigation was to be conducted based on the evidence gathered.
