ACC has concluded its investigation of a complaint alleging that the former assistant Island Chief of HDh.Kulhuffushi has misrepresented an information in order to unduly disburse the second payment of a loan issued to an individual, with regards to the 100 million Rufiyaa Loan Scheme introduced in 2008 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to those striving to build household residences within Maldives.
Upon investigation, it was found that, under the “housing loan scheme” introduced in 2008, the former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development had made an agreement with an individual on 22 December 2008, to issue a loan on several terms, based on the progress of the building. With regards to this, the second payment of the loan; MRF 70,0000.00 was delivered to the individual after assistant island Chief of HDh.Kulhuffushi filled the form issued by the Ministry, stating that the concrete foundation has been built on the land in question. However, a document prepared by HDh. Kulhuffushi on 16 June 2013 and ACC’s investigation of the building reveals that till June 2013, there is no evidence of any construction work carried out in the land under discussion.
Besides, on the HDFC’s loan application form, the individual had issued the former assistant island chief’s name as a person that he/she is well aware of. Moreover, the former assistant island Chief had requested HDFC to allocate him as the guarantor of the loan applied by the forenamed individual. With reference to these facts, it is evident that the individual in discussion and the former assistant island Chief has a close relationship with each other. Therefore, the investigation reveals that the former assistant island Chief has misused his position to unduly disburse the second payment of the loan to a third party by filling the form issued by the Ministry with false information. Thus, the case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office to be prosecuted under Article 12 (a) of Law number: 2/2000 (Prevention & Prohibition of Corruption Act) against the former assistant Island Chief of HDh. Khulhudhuffushi for the offence of providing an undue advantage to a third party.