The Prosecutor General's (PG) Office has announced today that the police have been instructed not to destroy documents related to criminal cases without seeking advice from the PG's Office.

On the 21st of this month, the Ministry of Home Affairs amended and gazetted the "Regulation on Maintaining and Releasing Police Records". The amendment was made to Article 21, which relates to documents and information that need to be preserved.

The amendment states that if the PG decides not to prosecute a criminal case, the head of the department responsible for maintaining police records may decide to destroy the documents of that case within one year from the date of that decision, after following the procedures outlined in Article 23 of the regulation.

In a press release issued today regarding this amendment, the PG's Office stated that the "Regulation on Maintaining and Releasing Police Records" specifies certain situations and procedures where documents of cases decided not to be prosecuted can be destroyed within a year from the date of that decision.

"However, the law specifies situations where the originals of documents from cases decided not to be prosecuted by this office may need to be used in connection with other criminal charges. Considering these factors, we are in the process of developing guidelines for investigative agencies regarding the preservation and destruction of documents from cases decided not to be prosecuted," the PG's Office said.

"Until these guidelines are developed and shared with the Maldives Police Service, we have instructed the Maldives Police Service today not to destroy the originals of any criminal case documents without obtaining written advice from this office," the PG said.

According to the amendment made by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the "Regulation on Maintaining and Releasing Police Records", in a completed criminal investigation, if the case is not among serious criminal offenses and there is insufficient evidence to press charges, based on the nature of the case and surrounding circumstances, if the investigating officer and their supervisor believe that new evidence is unlikely to emerge and document this belief in a written endorsement, the head of the department responsible for maintaining police records has the authority to destroy the documents of that case within one year from the date it was filed.

Article 23 of the regulation states that before destroying the documents of a case, all documents must be scanned. The documents of a case must be destroyed in a manner that prevents copying or reproduction.