ECM seeks legal action for failing to declares assets

Elections Commission of Maldives (ECM) has forwarded the cases of the parliamentary election candidates that failed to provide financial statements, to the Prosecutor General (PG) Office.

The Commission announced this via twitter on Thursday, and said that they are seeking “legal action” against the candidates and their election agents.

While 39 of the 386 candidates had failed to declare assets within the given deadline, ECM said that all elected to the 19th parliament had done so.

The 39 candidates that failed to provide the statements include; 31 independent candidates, two each from Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party and Maldives Third-Way Democrats, as well as one each from People’s National Congress (PNC) and Adhaalath Party.

While candidates are not required to provide financial records prior to the election, a recent amendment to Article 73 (a) of the General Elections Act states that “a report relating to the financial matters of the election of the candidates should be prepared and submitted to the Elections Commission within 21 days from the date of election.” The 2019 parliamentary election was held on April 6.

Failing to comply with the guidelines is considered as an elections-related offence, and could result in a fine between MVR 6,000 and 24,000, or a jail sentence between six months and two years.