The Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Harmony Holdings Limited, Mallam Abdullahi Abdulmajeed, has said that the reports exposing the grand infractions and corruption at Mandate III estate, Ilorin and Harmony Estate Galadimawa, Abuja would be released despite blackmail, threats and mischievous protest by some members of staff of Harmony Investment and Property Development Company (HIPDC).
The GMD/CEO said this on a radio appearance at Midland FM, Ilorin on Friday, noting the protest staged by the staff was in a bid to scuttle the implementation of these reports.
It has been reported that Mandate III estate was built under Dr Bukola Saraki’s administration with an Estate Development Loan (EDL) of N557 million from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
The 250 housing unit estate was supposed to be sold via mortgage financing to NHF contributors who are civil servants in the state, but most of the keys ended up in the hands of ineligible beneficiaries, many of whom are politicians and friends of people in government, according to investigation.
Abdulmajeed said the past administration did not effectively service the loan which continued to attract compound interest rates, default charges, and now stands at about N1.5 billion.
According to him, investigation into why the project failed, refused to yield profit and has caused a huge indebtedness, revealed lack of evidence of part payment with many of the occupants of the estate, while numerous illegally carved out land in excess of 80 units were all sold off without any records of their allocation or evidence of payment into the coffers of the company. He added however that there are few beneficiaries who have fully paid their premium and also found to be free of any contravention or infractions.
The report also included how some occupants have made several constructions that were not approved but which they claimed were permitted although not officially by the previous management and some staff of the company.
The GMD/CEO said he has been in talks with the Federal Mortgage Bank to resolve the loan crisis since his assumption of office and the discussions have been fruitful as “we are on the verge of obtaining approval for the lump sum payment of all the outstanding after the requested waivers on the excess interest and default charges have been waived by the bank’s management.”
He noted also that the original payment period that would have applied even if the houses were sold via mortgage as was intended when the project was conceived would have expired by the end of this year.
He therefore advised all home owners to be ready to effect their due obligations before the expiration of the tenor to enable the company reach final closure on the project and safeguard the ownership of the homes for all beneficiaries and the state.
Abdulmajeed stated that the infractions and corrupt practices that were perpetrated in Harmony Estate Galadimawa, Abuja are worse off.
“This heist has resulted in robbing the state and its investment company of due proceeds in excess of N2 billion which have been discovered to have gone into private pockets under the last administration and the former management of the company. Sadly, our investigations discovered that the entire sharp practices were largely aided and abetted by the company staff who have been indicted by the report. Some were found to have falsified documents, issued receipts of payment without any evidence of payment into the company’s accounts amidst other grand infractions.”
He said the affected members of the company’s upper echelon and staff are the ones instigating the protest at HIPDC to frustrate the ongoing process, seeing it has exposed them and their former bosses who served in the past administration.
The GMD reiterated that HIPDC staff are not owed salaries despite the fact that he inherited a struggling company that was heavily indebted, clarifying also that every management decision taken by the holding company’s management under his leadership was in strict compliance with the standard operating procedure and corporate policies.
