Govt to parliament: ignoring ACC flat report unfair

The Maldives government has warned the parliament on its order to award flats under the Gedhoruveriya scheme without alterations to the recipients list against Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)'s report would be infringe the rights of the applicants.

During Monday's press conference, Chief Spokesperson of the President's Office Heena Waleed said ACC's report highlighted several concerning issues and discrepancies in the awarding policies for the social housing scheme.

While stressing the focus of incumbent government on ensuring the public's rights were not infringed, Heena said the parliament's instructions to award the flats despite ACC's report highlighting severe concerns would strip away the rights of the recipients and applicants.

"As such, our government will work on ensuring fair and equitable approach in solving the issue to proceed foward," Heena commented.

The report issued by parliament's National Development and Heritage Committee after reviewing complaints from the housing scheme applicants was passed with 29 votes, without any votes against it.

The committee report called for the immediate awarding of flats without alterations to the recipients list.

Flat awarding has been halted owing to ACC's investigation. The commission said 59.6 percent of the applicants who have been held eligible to receive units from the 4,000 flats do not meet the eligbility criteria.