Parliament pushes for police to seize scam accounts without warrant
The challenge for the police is also this; the challenge of recovering money from such a swift criminal transaction while waiting for a court order.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
The Maldives Democratic Party (MDP)’s North Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim has submitted an amendment to the law on Monday proposing to empower the police to seize bank accounts without a court order to prevent the circulation of money in cases of fraud.
This amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code comes after the police on Wednesday asked the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) Committee of parliament for such a legal solution to curb scams. In his letter to the Speaker, MP Mohamed Ibrahim noted that the amendment was being proposed as requested by the police.
"Such scams are causing a lot of damage to the people and the police have requested that if a legal solution is not brought quickly, the people and the country may suffer," Ibrahim said in the letter.
According to Section 72 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the police are given the authority to apply for a court order to monitor a bank account and the transactions made from it under three circumstances. They are:
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1-
A person who has committed an offence requiring the confiscation of property obtained by crime, a person who has participated in the commission of such an offence and a person who has information about the commission of such an offence
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2-
A person who has directly or indirectly benefited from an offence requiring the confiscation of the proceeds of the offence
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3-
A person who is on the verge of profiting from the act of a serious criminal offence
Section 73(a) of the Act empowers the police to seek an order to withhold the proceeds of the account for a certain period of time or restrain it from dealing with the proceeds of the said account in case of a 'serious criminal offence'. However, the offences do not include scams.
MP Mohamed Ibrahim's proposed amendment to Section 73(a) of the Act includes cases of 'fraudulent withdrawal of money from the owner of the account by fraud or scam' in addition to a serious criminal offence.
The bill also provides for powers to take action against the owner or third party of an account in order to protect the rights of the owner or third party of the account during the time taken for the court to decide on the order. They are:
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The police may issue an order to seize the funds in the account or other accounts to which the funds have been transferred or to prevent transactions with the funds
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Such an order can be issued by an officer from the rank of Sub-Inspector of Police or higher
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The order shall be notified immediately to the bank or institution where the account was opened and to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)
The amendments will come into force on the date the bill becomes law and is published in the Government Gazette.
Many of the recent scams involve hacking someone's account, transferring the funds in it to other accounts and disbursing the funds in various directions swiftly. The challenge for the police is also this; the challenge of recovering money from such a swift criminal transaction while waiting for a court order.
