The Parliamentary Committee on Independent Institutions has limited the authority of the newly-formed Presidential Commissions on Unsolved Murders and Asset Recovery by amending the state proposed bill which sought to grant legal powers to the two bodies.
Clauses of the bill which contradict the Constitution were slashed amid criticism from legal experts, opposing politicians and some members of the ruling coalition.
The bill, proposed by Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Parliament Member Mohamed Rasheed, originally granted the commissions the right to send cases to the Prosecutor General’s office, call upon suspects, attain bank account details, freeze accounts, obtain search warrants, involve police in the search for evidence, and suspend passports.
All these rights have now been revoked.
Despite this, the Commissions are still considered investigative bodies under the Penal Code and may issue summons and order suspects to submit documents or other evidence.
Another clause which was scrapped from the bill is the one which required the formation of a committee at the Prosecutor General (PG)'s Office specifically to investigate and file cases submitted by the presidential commissions.
As per the amendments, concluded investigations will simply be forwarded to the PG office.
Initially, the bill gave the PG office a 15-day deadline to decide on whether or not to press charges regarding such cases. In addition to this, the PG office was to ensure that trials would conclude within two months if charges were pressed.
While the commissions were formed to fulfill key electoral pledges of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, both were originally set to investigate cases between January 1, 2012 and November 17, 2018.
This limit has now been removed.
In addition to these changes, the commissions have been given the right to determine the salaries and benefits to be accorded to their respective members. Each commission must also create a budget and set up an office space.
The members of Asset Recovery Commission are former state minister of the Finance Ministry Ahmed Asadh, Aas Abdulla, Nadheem Ibrahim, Aishath Hana Waheed and the former president of the Police Integrity Commission Fathmath Sareera Shareef.
Meanwhile, the members of the Presidential Commission on Investigation of Unsolved Murders and Enforced Disappearance are Husnu Al-Suood, Abdulla Munaz, Adam Ibrahim, Fareesha Abdulla and Misbah Abbas.
Sign In