Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has stated regulations on conducting criminal investigations under the Criminal Procedure Act were formulated before the deadline specified in the act.
The Criminal Procedure Act came in to effect on July 2, 2017. A period of three months was given to formulate the regulations to be followed by investigative authorities with respect to the act. However, a motion was raised at the Parliament of the Maldives stating ACC had failed to formulate the regulations in time and that there are no regulations in place to specify the procedure to be followed in lodging cases at the commission.
ACC has subsequently issued a statement denying the claims, noting the regulations on conducting criminal investigations under the Criminal Procedure Act was formulated in 2017, well before the three-month deadline. Stating the new regulations were formulated to fulfill the objectives of the new Criminal Procedure Act, ACC said the commission was the first authority to publish its regulations under the new act. ACC added it is currently in the process of reviewing and amending the regulations as part of the efforts to strengthen the legal framework in fighting corruption.
Further, ACC also revealed it had been following a certain set of regulations on conducting investigations long before the new Criminal Procedure Act came in to existence, even when the law did not mandate such a regulation. ACC said the old regulations, which were formulated in 2010, were followed until the new Criminal Procedure Act came in to effect in 2017. Therefore, the commission noted claims that the commission does not have any regulations in place for investigating corruption are baseless and untrue.