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Thursday 12 Sep 2024
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
A Maldives Police Service officer patrols the streets to maintain public order: A new bill proposed by MDP seeks to authorize police to freeze bank accounts without requiring a court order. (Sun Photo: Ibrahim Naish)
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Monday, submitted an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, proposing to authorize police to freeze bank accounts without a court warrant in scam cases.
The bill was submitted by MDP’s parliament member from North-Galolhu constituency, Mohamed Ibrahim during Monday’s sitting.
The bill is an answer to the request made by the Maldives Police Service at the Independent Institutions Committee meeting on July 31st. At the meeting, police requested a legal reform to amplify the authority’s role in ceasing scam activities.
At the committee meeting, police also stressed that any delays in resolving the matter would pose immeasurable risks for the public and country.
The opposition party proposed the amendment to Article 73(a) of the Act, which outlines procedure on freezing bank accounts and transactions. According to the current statutory provision, a court warrant is required if police intend to freeze bank accounts for suspected criminal activities.
Police officers of sub-inspector rank or higher can issue orders to freeze bank accounts and halt transactions in suspected scams without needing a court warrant, under the new amendment.
The amendment also allows police to quickly notify the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and the commercial bank where the suspected account is held to freeze it.
At the committee meeting last month, police said a total of 1,661 fraud and scam cases, worth MVR 20 million in losses, were reported to the authority last year and another 1,302 cases have been reported from January to July this year.
In majority of these cases, scammers often posed as legitimate businesses to deceptively acquire money through misrepresentation. Police said it received 55 such cases so far this year worth MVR 13.9 million in losses.
The authority has also forwarded 156 scam cases to the Prosecutor General’s Office to press charges against culpable parties, with majority of these cases already in trial phase.
