Maldives has always had a very sound legal system.
In this regard, there have always been 'U'thama Fadiyaaru the
Chief Justice and deputies to 'U'thama Fadiyaaru'.
Among these deputies was the 'Bandaara Naib' (Attorney General)
In 1932 the first written constitution of the Maldives was proclaimed.
In accordance with article 9 of of that constitution, "the 'Bandaara Naib' shall provide
advice and recommendations to the Vazeerul Haqaa Niyaa (Justice Minister)
Mahkamah al-Shari'ah (the courts) on legal issues.
The Bandaara Naib shall represent the State in Courts on matters
between state and other parties. Furthermore, the Bandaara Naib was also
declared a member of the Cabinet.
Up until the mid 1950's, criminal cases was investigated
and filed by the office of the Bandaara Naib. In the 1950's,
the office of the Bandaara Naib was established as a separate office.
Subsequently sometime in-between 1950 and 1960, investigation of
certain nature of cases were carried out by the police and forwarded
to the office of the Bandaara Naib to be filed at Court.
Nevertheless if the investigations were found to be incomplete,
further investigations were carried out by the office of the Bandaara Naib.
With this regard to matters such as grave political offences.
Bandaara Naib or his representative was in attendance during such investigations.
The Bandaara Naib's Office was renamed the 'Attorney
General's Office' on 11 November 1968. It was also
resolved that the Attorney General's office would no
longer be involved in investigations of cases. Subsequent to these changes, grave
political offences, murder, grand theft and others mentioned in the constitution
were referred to the Mahkamah al Aman Aamm (The National Security).
These cases were then investigated by the police and submitted by the
Mahkamah al-Amam Aamm to the Attorney General Office to be filed at the Mahkamah al-Shari'ah.
This state of affairs existed until the current Constitution was enacted in1998.
The Constitution states that there shall be an Attorney General appointed by
the President and that the Attorney General shall be a member of the Cabinet.
Furthermore, to prosecute on behalf of the state, to provide legal advice on matters
pertaining to agreements and contracts to which the State is party to, and regarding
other matters referred by the State, are among some of the responsibilities of the
Attorney General.
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