IFC and ADB look into corruption issues related to HDFC

Corruption cases related to the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), of which the government is a major shareholder, have been submitted to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The government holds 49 percent of shares of HDFC, while IFC and ADB hold 18 percent shares each. HDFC Investment India also holds 15 percent of the shares of HDFC.

The corruption cases were filed to IFC and ADB by the former IT Manager of HDFC Ismail Masood who was dismissed at the end of February 2012. The Employment Tribunal said that he can under no circumstances be considered a person who has been dismissed from his post.

Ismail Masood said in an interview to Sun Online today that ADB and IFC had given huge loans to Maldives for housing projects and that these funds have been misused by HDFC. He said that the matters have been brought to the attention of their foreign stakeholders, as they are serious issues.

“I filed the cases to those offices earlier this month. They have replied via email that they are looking into them as serious issues,” he said.

Masood also earlier filed the cases to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

One of the cases states that two employees of HDFC worked together to conduct dollar transactions without obtaining the necessary licence, and that they collected money from several people who wanted to buy dollars and never paid them back.

Another case filed by Masood states that the MD of HDFC conducted corrupt activities to award a bid to a Sri Lankan company called Synapsis. It says that Synapsis was given the opportunity to bid for the project by allowing an employee of HDFC participate as a representative of Synapsis, upon the MD’s request, in a session held to provide information on the bid.

Sun Online has obtained the emails sent by ADB and IFC after he filed the cases to them. Both emails say that the cases have been filed as cases to be investigated, and that they are looking into the matter. It has not been possible to get the government’s or HDFC’s comment on this issue today.