Awarding of flats on hold, Ministry blames ACC
"59 is much larger than the majority. When it is determined such an amount is not eligible, we have to explain why it is not eligible," the minister said.
By
Ahmed Mizyal
Housing Minister Dr Ali Haider said on Tuesday that under the previous government's Gedhoruveriya scheme, those who meet the criteria are still not being allotted flats as the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has denied access to the Gedhoruverin Portal.
The ACC stopped the handover of 4,000 Gedhoruveriya flats in late November as it had begun investigating complaints that the previous government was announcing a corrupt list and handing over land registries illegally.
Despite the investigation, the commission gave permission to the Housing Ministry to continue with the allocation of flats based on certain circumstances on February 1.
According to the ACC, among the forms examined in the investigation:
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The percentage of applicants who qualify and have no problems is: 20.7%
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Despite eligibility, problematic forms: 19.7%
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Ineligible forms: 59.6%
Minister Haider told the National Development and Heritage Committee of the Parliament on Tuesday that only a list of eligible persons’ form numbers was shared with the ministry after the first phase of the ACC investigation.
The Minister said that the work currently to be done is to identify those who have been determined by the ACC to be eligible. However, it can only be done once the ministry gets back access to the portal.
"The list only contains form numbers. We don't even have access to the portal because the ACC investigation is not yet complete," he said.
"Once we get access to the portal, we can identify who the numbers are. As they had noted, we are working to hand over the flats to the eligible people as soon as possible”.
The ACC's investigation has examined the forms of 4,048 people from the permanent list of flat recipients. Of these, 59% were found ineligible by the ACC, which the minister said was a matter of concern.
"59 is much larger than the majority. When it is determined such an amount is not eligible, we have to explain why it is not eligible," he said.
"The letter sent by the ACC explains this very clearly. But we have not had the opportunity to recheck even because we do not have access to the portal”.
The minister added that the ACC had said earlier this week that access to the portal would be given within two to three days. Then handover of the flats will start next week and be completed within two weeks, he said.
