An amendment's been proposed to the Criminal Procedure Act to grant Police the power to temporarily freeze bank accounts without a court order in cases involving fraud or scams.

The amendment was proposed by MP Mohamed Ibrahim.

As per Section 73 of the Criminal Procedure Act, bank accounts can only be frozen with a court order if a serious criminal offense is detected during monitoring under a monitoring order.

The proposed amendment seeks to give police the power to temporarily freeze accounts.

As per the amendment, in addition to serious criminal offenses, court orders can be sought to temporarily freeze accounts if there is any evidence of fraud or scams involving money, or reasons supporting such activities. The amendment also allows police to issue orders to freeze funds in accounts or transferred to other accounts during the time it takes for the court to make a decision.

The amendment specified that the order must be issued by an officer of Sub-Inspector rank or higher. The account freeze order must be promptly communicated to the bank and the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

MP Mohamed Ibrahim said that he proposed this bill based on information shared by police that legal solutions were required to stop scam cases without the requirement of a court order.

He added that such scams could cause serious harm to the public and the country. As such, the amendment was proposed with the intention of expediting the implementation of measures, he said.

The Head of Anti-Scam Center and Inspector of Police, Mariyam Rasheeda, had previously expressed concern at the committee regarding the lack of a legal mechanism to freeze funds in various accounts involved in scam cases from the moment they are reported.

As scam cases have increased, several cases involving millions of rufiyaa have been reported to the police this year. The police have managed to recover a significant portion of the money in such cases.