Bank of Maldives (BML) has said that the biggest challenge in curbing scams through the bank is not having the power to freeze accounts.

BML made the remarks while responding to questions raised by parliament members at a meeting convened by the SOE Committee on Wednesday regarding the efforts bring made by BML to check scams through the bank.

BML's Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs, Aishath Samah said that BML previously froze accounts to curb scams.

However, following a Civil Court ruling stating that BML would require a court order to freeze a customer's bank account, BML now faces major challenges in preventing scams, she said.

She further said that BML has appealed to High Court and hopes that the issues would be resolved once the High Court proceedings are completed.

She also highlighted that there are instances where money can be deposited into fraudulent accounts, and that in such cases, BML does not have the power to revert the transfer without the consent of the depositing customer.