Male’, Maldives – Parliament of Maldives accepts the bill submitted by Fonadhoo constituency member Moosa Siraj to criminalize unexplained wealth of a civil servant or a former civil servant.
This bill is to amendment the Penal Code of Maldives, to stipulate that any unexplained wealth of a civil servant or a former civil servant would be deemed illegal and those people would be penalized.
According to this bill, if a civil servant or a former civil servant lives a lifestyle disproportionate to that persons pay grade will be deemed criminal. The amendment also states that if a civil servant or a former civil servant or a family member or someone with whom they have either a personal or a business relationship gets and owns unreasonably excessive amounts of assets compared to the salary they get, then that also would be considered a crime.
If that person cannot justify how they are able to live a higher lifestyle what they could afford with their salary or how a family member or someone with whom they have either a personal or a business relationship got their assets was through a legal way, then that also would fall under this category.
If the person who accumulates unexplained wealth is the president, minister, parliamentarian or a judge, then this would be classified as a class B felony which is punishable with a maximum of 15 years in jail. If someone is found guilty of such a crime, that person would get a minimum of 6 years of jail time.
The first reading of the bill had been completed and the bill was accepted to the parliament today after the preliminary debate. The bill was accepted by the parliament with 53 votes and the bill has been sent to the judicial committee for further review.
In addition to this bill, the amendment for the Anti Corruption Act was also accepted to the parliament today with 54 votes. This amendment is for further elaboration of how “Corruption” is defined in the Act to include “the act of corruption and all activities related to carrying out the act of corruption”.
