Parliament Postpones Sitting to Monday Amid Persistent Electrical Issues

Parliamentary sittings have been postponed until Monday, 19 October, as persistent electrical issues at the People’s Majlis secretariat remain unresolved, the Parliament Table Office informed members today.

A Member of Parliament confirmed the postponement to MV+.

The administrative disruption follows similar technical issues yesturday, when the scheduled morning sitting was delayed from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM while engineers worked to rectify the power failure. Today’s session was likewise initially scheduled for 9:00 AM before proceedings were called off.

Despite Tuesday’s delay, MPs convened later in the morning and voted to accept a government-sponsored bill proposing amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, sponsored by Funadhoo MP Mohamed Mamdooh. 

The legislation was accepted with 45 out of 46 members present voting in favour and referred to the Judiciary Committee for further scrutiny.

The Judiciary Committee chaired by Holhudhoo MP Abdul Sattar Mohamed, with MP Mamdooh serving as deputy chair was scheduled to meet at 11:15 AM today, though a formal agenda had not been published as of today. 

Prior to the disruptions, parliamentary debate had centered on a broader legislative reform package. Alongside MP Mamdooh’s amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act, lawmakers debated an Asset Recovery Bill introduced by Central Fuvahmulah MP Ali Fazaad of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).

The proposed legislation would significantly expand state powers to trace, freeze, and confiscate assets linked to criminal activity. Under the Asset Recovery Bill, the Prosecutor General could seek civil asset forfeiture orders without a prior criminal conviction, operating under the civil standard of proof the balance of probabilities.

The reforms would also empower law enforcement agencies to obtain court orders for covert bank account monitoring for up to three months, establish an asset management agency under the Ministry of Finance, and apply civil asset recovery powers retrospectively.

Additionally, proposed amendments to Section 130(a)(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act would exempt certain internal investigative strategies, intelligence reports, and agency documents from mandatory disclosure to defence counsel.