Parliament asks audit to probe HDC losses in free land scheme

The Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has approved a special audit of the SME Development Finance Corporation (SDFC), which was established to provide loans to small businesses, and to assess the losses caused to Housing Development Corporation (HDC) by providing free land in Hulhumale during the previous government.

At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee held on Tuesday, the proposal to direct the Auditor General's Office to conduct the two audits was submitted by PNC MP from Fuvahmulah North Hamad Abdulla.

Speaking at the meeting, Hamad said he was not proposing to investigate the damage caused by the free land allocation in order to take the given lands back.

“When governments do such things for political purposes, the financial damage caused to companies is something that should be looked into,” he said.

Hamad said that even if the HDC required compensation for the loss, only an audit can identify the figures for compensation.

He proposed to conduct the audit of the SDFC from March 2019 to November 17, 2023.

His two motions were supported by PNC MP Mamdooh. The motion passed unanimously.

The committee also decided to ask the audit office to conduct the two audits within two months.

It is worth mentioning that 1,380 plots of land have been given away in Hulhumale under the Binnveriya Scheme implemented by the last government.

According to the information provided by the HDC to the Audit Office, the company has suffered a loss of MVR 10.5 billion due to the allocation of free land in Hulhumale. This was noted in the Budget Position Review report released by the Audit Office last month.