President Dr Mohamed Muizzu said last night that the main purpose of the government’s bill submitted to parliament is to establish a legal framework allowing the state to seize property acquired through criminal activity.

During PSM's ' "Nation Chat" podcast, President Muizzu said that even though previous governments have formed various committees and administrations in order to seek compensation for state losses, past attempts have not been successful because "they went after specific parties" for political purposes.

However, the President said that the current government will not work in the same manner, and instead will work systemically to solve the issue. He also said the bill which has been submitted to the Parliament is meant to achieve that purpose.

“The purpose is to completely rid the Maldivian system of governance of corruption. That is not something that can be achieved in a day. It is deeply rooted in every country,” the president said.

"Funds and property obtained illegally is to go back to the state. This is the citizen's money being used illegally to obtain them. We need to find a way to retrieve that property. We are working on bringing changes to the legal system in order to do so." 

With the act, work will be done to strengthen enforcement agencies that work against corruption, said the President.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu stated in a post on X on Tuesday that this bill has been forwarded to the parliament on behalf of the government. In that post, the President said that one of the main objectives of the bill is to introduce a legal framework regarding the forfeiture of proceeds of crime to the state, in order to seize illegally acquired property from perpetrators of serious criminal offenses and block avenues for deriving further benefits from such assets.

The bill sets out standards for identifying proceeds of crime and means used to commit crimes, circumstances under which such property can be seized by the state, and general principles to be followed in this regard.