SPEECH BY HONORABLE ABDULLAH SAEED, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALDIVES AT THE “PROSECUTION TRAINING WORKSHOP ON INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF HI TECH CRIME – TECHNOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS” 12-14 JUNE 2010 AT BANDOS ISLAND RESORT
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Honorable Mr. Ahmed Muizzu, Prosecutor General of the Maldives, Ms. Shirani de Fontgalland, Advisor and Head of Criminal Law Section Legal and Consular Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat Distinguished Delegates, Respected Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored to be part of this much needed training workshop on “Investigation and Prosecution of Hi- Tech Crime- Technological Challenges and Practical Solutions”. I take this opportunity to thank the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Maldives for organizing and hosting this workshop.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The twenty first Century has woken up to technological explosion and economic boom. Technology is an important element of change in all sphere of life. If technology is properly used it can bring about changes for the betterment of life.
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On the other hand One of the disadvantage side of IT is certainly high-tech crime, against which you are curbing day and night. High-tech crime not only causes enormous damage to individual victims, but also impairs confidence in and potentiality of IT itself and therefore seriously damages the future prospect of human beings. Moreover, high-tech crime ranges widely from conventional crime taking advantage of IT, such as Internet fraud, distribution of harmful information and infringement upon intellectual property rights, to unauthorized access by hackers, destruction of data with computer viruses, attack upon or destruction of the system itself. The progress of IT also increases danger of misuse of IT and we cannot deny the possibility of yet other problems arising. Therefore, we need to constantly renew our recognition of high-tech crime and take countermeasures based on extensive discussions.
Technology has both facilitated and impeded the investigation of crime particularly high tech crime involving computing and communications technologies. Consequently, the world is experiencing tremendous developments in crimes and rapidly growing rates of international crimes.
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Crimes have become borderless. The international community is being threatened by the outburst of internationally organized crime.
The world is no longer alien to the Hi tech Crimes. Terrified is the international community by the misuse of technological advancements by the criminals. Crimes that arise out of electronic communications such as money laundering is not bound by national borders. The whole category of so called cyber crimes are almost by definition transnational crimes. And this workshop is aimed at discussing some of such transnational crimes such as money laundering, terrorist financing.
The nature of modern communications networks makes it impossible to for any country acting alone to address this emerging high tech crime problem. A common approach addressing the unique, borderless, nature of global networks is needed.
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The first International convention which criminalizes money laundering was the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. At present the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime 2000, the International Convent for suppression of the Financing of Terrorism are a bold attempts to curb international cooperation in dealing with crimes of such nature.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Maldives is already party to eight of the global conventions on terrorism. Some of these include International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings 2000, the International Convent for suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism. On 14 April 2008 Four people arrested on credit card fraud(14 April 2008) Male' - Four people, 3 Maldivians and a Malaysian national have been arrested over alleged credit card fraud amounting to a total of US$ 275,000 5
in transactions, police say. The suspects were arrested on 25th March, after investigations since a tip-off last October, according to Criminal Investigation Department's Commercial Crime Unit said. The men used the credit cards to purchase expensive items from shops around Male' and may have had around 80 separate cards. The Malaysian national appears to be the ring leader and is reported to have worked as technician in a credit card production company in Malaysia. This is a first case of its kind in the Maldives and goes to show that small nations are now targeted by these hitech criminal gangs. The police are reportedly looking several more people including nationals of neighboring countries.
Police also said that they were drafting a Cyber Law bill to enable them to apprehend such criminals. In addition to that, police also said that criminals, including pedophiles are also taking advantage of the easy access
to
internet
in
the
country.
Child abuses via chat and social network websites, child pornography, 6
credit card fraud and identity theft, are common cyber crimes faced by internet users. Most developed countries now have mechanisms in place to deal with such criminals and many have been convicted.
In terms of measures against high-tech crime, Maldives need making strenuous efforts to develop legislative and law enforcement infrastructure. The Judiciary of Maldives was posed with challenges when it came to penalizing those responsible for this unacceptable act. We were reminded that the judiciary has a gigantic responsibility on their shoulders when it comes to acts of hi tech crimes.
It is unfortunate that the Maldives still lacks both substantial and procedural laws on the matter at hand
Numerous challenges slow the process of prosecution and the courts when it comes to high tech crimes. Very often criminals disguise their identity making the identification of suspects a major challenge in cyber crimes. The investigators also face difficulties in obtaining evidence in high tech crimes. 7
Sometimes the criminal might have to be extradited somewhere else to stand trial, likewise there can be difficulties in choosing an appropriate jurisdiction for proceedings.
Some of the necessary steps to be taken when dealing with high tech crimes are numerous. It is essential that each country has its own domestic laws that criminalize improper use of computer technology. Special attention needs to be given to building a sufficient number of technically literate, appropriately equipped personnel to address crimes of such nature.
These domestic steps must go hand in hand with international cooperation. Thus, only a common approach can help us tackle the increasing transnational crimes.
I hope that this three day workshop would be beneficial for the prosecutors and the courts in general. Thank you. 8
