Public Outrage Over Alleged Polco Fraud, Calls for its Dissolution
Photo: MV+
The public, outraged over the alleged fraudulent handling of the housing project managed by the Police Cooperative Society (Polco), has called for its dissolution.
The Auditor’s General Office (AGO) published the Special Audit Report of the Housing Project (Blues Housing Project) on Thursday. It reported that over MVR 1 billion was spent on this project, incurring a loss of MVR 354.7 million. Since then, the public has criticised the mismanagement of this scheme and called for the dissolution of Polco and Sifco, the Cooperative Society for the Maldivian National Defence Force.
Parliamentarian for Kanditheem Constituency and President of the opposition, Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) Ahmed Faisal said that despite spending over MVR 1 billion on this project to develop 300 flats, nothing has been achieved in the past 12 years.
“I call for action to be taken against those at fault,” MP Faisal said in Dhivehi, in his post on X.
Former MP for Kendhoo constituency Ali Hussein questioned who benefited from the constant mismanagement of their agreements with Noomadi, a company cited in the AGO report to have received MVR 76.1 million.
“First [agreement was made] against Noomadi. Then, the projects were given to Noomadi. Then [they went] against Noomadi, and the agreement was cancelled. Then, they gave statements against Noomadi. Later, they changed those statements and got on the same side as Noomadi,” he said in a post on X, in Dhivehi.
A social media activist who uses the username lucaljalyl on X called to dissolve SIFCO and POLCO.
“The Police and the army are the two institutions the state spends most money on. Why should they enter such big businesses like this? That is not something government institutions do,” he said in Dhivehi on X.
In their report, AGO urged the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate the board of directors of Polco at the time to determine if there was fraud involved in managing this project. They also called on the relevant authorities to ensure the then board of directors was also held accountable.