Minister for Housing Premila Kumar

The Housing Authority Audit Report has highlighted that in many cases the information requested by the Auditor General’s Team was not provided by the Housing Authority.

Minister for Housing Premila Kumar says this demonstrates there is no proper centralized system for record-keeping or a tracking system on decisions made on lot allocations.

Kumar adds critical records such as tender documents for land development were not provided during the investigation.

“The Special Audit report clearly stated that the Governance, Risk and Compliance were not exercised to its highest level. Critical records such as Tender documents for land development were not provided during the investigation. Possible cases of suspected fraud and collusion.”

The Minister says the Audit Report also pointed out that some former staff who approved lot allocation despite not having the authority refused to be interviewed during the investigation.

Kumar says the Ministry will work closely with the Authority to strengthen the policies.

They will also introduce a new Housing Act to strengthen the legal framework within the housing sector.