Ibrahim Falah, the parliamentary group leader of ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), alleged on Monday that the former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration had every opportunity to deliver justice for the dozens of victims of the fraud in the sale of apartments from K-Park Residences – a condominium under development in Hulhumale’ – but chose to protect people who ran the project instead.
The K-Park project was launched by Hanbo in 2016. It was Hanbo and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) that reported the allegations of fraud to the police in 2023, naming Hanbo’s then-minority shareholder Hassan Mamdhooh (Manday) as the prime suspect in the case.
On Monday morning, North Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudu), a parliamentarian from the main opposition MDP, presented a resolution to the Parliament expressing concern over the delay in justice to the victims, some of whom were cheated out of their life savings when they paid advances for apartments from K-Park Residences that they never got.
But during the preliminary debate, Falah, the representative for Inguraidhoo constituency, blamed the MDP administration, led by former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, for the delay in justice.
He alleged that the MDP administration had every opportunity to deliver justice to the victims, but chose to protect the people who ran the project.
A model of K-Park Residence. (Photo/K-Park Residence)
“…We saw K-Park officials getting afforded a lot of protection and security during the MDP administration, with MDP leaders treating the heads of K-Park as friends,” he said.
Falah said the MDP administration gave MVR 800 million in settlements to companies embroiled in such allegations.
He said that it is the incumbent PNC administration that is working tirelessly to deliver justice for the victims.
He went on to levy serious allegations against not just the MDP administration, but also the administration of former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, during which the project was launched.
Falah said that if the Parliament must intervene, it must summon both Solih and Yameen, who he alleged received kickbacks from K-Park officials.
“If this is an issue that requires parliamentary intervention, or can be resolved through parliamentary intervention, we should summon Yameen, who was president when this whole thing began, and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was president during the last administration. They should be summoned to parliamentary committees and questioned on how much President Yameen took in the K-Park case. And how much the leaders of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration took,” he said.
The K-Park Residences remain unfinished to date, with Manday and his associate Jaishan Saeed on trial for over 200 charges, collectively, for defrauding over 50 people.
In his resolution, Kudu urged the expedition of justice to the victims, warning that the delay was worsening the living situation of multiple families.