Maldives Parliament on Tuesday accepted a Bill sponsored by the opposition MDP to amend the Criminal Procedure Act to grant police the power to freeze bank accounts without a court order to prevent scams.

The ruling PNC's super-majority parliament accepted the Bill with 72 votes in favor out of 74 MPs present at the time. The Bill has since been referred to the Judiciary Committee for further review.

North Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudoo) sponsored the Bill which seeks to amend Article 73(a) of the Act.

Article 73(a) of the Act now provides that the law enforcement agency may seek a court order to withhold the funds in the account for a specified period or to prevent transactions with the funds if the monitoring order issued under section 72 of the Act reveals a serious criminal offense.

The amendment seeks to bypass the requirement for a court warrant, thereby saving time for the law enforcement authority to reach the culprits. The amendment also stipulates that such orders can be issued by police officers of sub-inspector rank or above. The bill further proposes police to promptly flag these accounts with the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and the bank where the suspected accounts have been opened.

According to the current structure of the Criminal Procedure Code, the law allows for a court order to seize the accounts of those accused of committing crimes but not the accounts of third parties. This was highlighted by Police Anti-Scam Center Head, Inspector of Police Mariyam Rasheeda in the relevant parliament committees.

Therefore, this is to provide the necessary legal solution as there is no mechanism in the law to withhold the money in the accounts in which the scam is reported.