The President of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Adam Shamil on Wednesday insisted on the need to introduce an asset recovery law to the Maldives in order to prevent and recover ill-gotten gains.
Maldives currently lacks a specific legislation to allow relevant authorities to confiscate and recover money and assets obtained through illegal means.
Therefore, the ACC has drafted a book on Asset Recovery Model Law designed to offer an insight on how this process can be carried out through the current laws and regulations in the Maldives along with details of the responsible State agencies.
Speaking after launching the model law, the ACC President said the primary motivation behind corruption and embezzlement is wealth rather than the need to commit a crime.
According to Shamil, money laundering originated to whitewash such ill-gotten gains and if the primary motivation can be removed from the equation there will be no need left for the offence.
“If we can introduce a special law for asset recovery, we can recover such ill-gotten funds and assets,” Shamil said, expressing hope for such a law in the near future.
An asset recovery law is part of this Administration’s legislative agenda. The Attorney General has promised to submit the law to Parliament during its current session.