The government has submitted a bill on recovering assets obtained through criminal activity to the People’s Majlis today.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu said the main purpose of the bill is to enable the state to seize assets unlawfully acquired by individuals involved in serious crimes and prevent them from benefiting financially from such assets.

The President said the proposed legal framework would also address existing legal challenges in recovering state assets obtained through serious criminal offences.

The bill seeks to enable the state to seize money and assets used to commit crimes, as well as proceeds obtained through criminal activity. It also aims to introduce stronger penalties to help curb gang-related and other serious crimes.

President Dr Muizzu ratified a separate bill addressing gang-related and other dangerous crimes on 25 May last year.

As the bill submitted today has not yet been made public by the People’s Majlis, details of the offences covered and the penalties proposed have not been confirmed.