Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, the first Vice President of President Abdulla Yameen’s administration, has stated that the bill submitted by the state to bring amendments to the section that comes under punishment for the offense of bribery under the penal code, is against the Constitution as well as a major sin.

Pro-government representative of Feydhoo constituency Ibrahim Didi proposed proposed the bill which proposes to eliminate the punishment stated in the penal code for the act of bribery.

In a tweet typed out in Dhivehi, posted on Monday, Dr. Jameel said that no one should attempt to allow something that is prohibited in Islam and that the Constitution does not permit the production of a law that goes against the sacred religion.

Dr. Jameel further said that criminals cannot hide even if the punishment for section 510 of the penal code is removed.

Several officials of law enforcement claim that if  the bill is passed and the parliament does remove section 510 of the penal code, then acts of offering and accepting bribes will not be deemed as a criminal offense.

As the section that comes under bribery applies to state employees, if the bill is proposed, charges of bribery cannot be raised on any state official.

Section 510 of the penal code, states that a person commits the offense of accepting bribes if they, being a public official or a candidate for the public office, knowingly solicits, accepts or agrees to accept for himself or another person, a benefit not authorized by law in exchange for influencing or agreeing to influence official authority or exercising or omitting to exercise official authority.

This section also states that a person is committing the offense of offering bribes if they knowingly offer or give to a public official or a candidate for public office, a benefit not lawfully authorized by law in exchange for influencing or agreeing to influence official authority or exercising or omitting to exercise official authority.

The offense of acts of bribery has been classified as a class 3 felony which carries a statutory maximum sentence of eight years.

The bill proposed by MP Didi has been accepted by the parliament and sent for review to the investigative committee.