The Attorney General’s Office is established by the powers vested in the President of the Maldives under the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives.

 

As of 22 November 2016, the mandate of the office includes the following duties and responsibilities.

1.      Legally representing the Republic of Maldives in the name of the State, in civil litigations, at both national and international level

2.      Determining prosecution policy guidelines

3.      Advising the State on assenting to bills passed by the Parliament

4.      Identifying the areas without relevant laws, conducting research on these areas conjointly with the relevant institutions, drafting bills on these areas after considering their opinion and presenting the draft to those institutions

5.      Identifying outdated or unnecessary laws existing in the Maldives and discussing with the relevant institutions on abolishing those laws, conducting research on the necessary amendments that need to be brought to the existing laws conjointly with relevant government institutions and helping the respective government institutions to draft bills that are necessary to bring those amendments

6.      Examining whether the regulations drafted by the government institutions are inconsistent with existing acts and regulations or not, and providing legal advice on implementation of those regulations

7.      Providing legal advice to the government on disputes arising from transactions between the government and other parties

8.      Providing legal advice to the government on participating in various international treaties or conventions and on contracts entered into by the government with other parties

9.      Providing legal advice on the ‘instrument of full power’ required by personnel signing official documents on behalf of the government

10.   Providing opinion to various financial institutions on loan agreements signed by the government in order to receive loans from international financial institutions and on the implementation of those loan agreements

11.   Providing opinion to relevant government institutions on drafting bills that are deemed necessary and on drafting regulations that are necessary under those bills

12.   Providing legal opinion on important projects and bids announced and coordinated by the government, on various negotiations the government is party to and assigning attorneys to the important projects carried out by the government which requires an attorney

13.   Providing legal aid in accordance with determined procedure to those that require legal assistance and are specified under the constitution of the Republic of Maldives

14.   Establishing regulations and procedures regarding the issuing of license to those practicing as lawyers in the Republic of Maldives, issuing those licenses, terminating those licenses if necessary, over-seeing and maintaining a registry of all lawyers, investigating issues of misconduct by lawyers, taking necessary steps and over-see all other matter relating to lawyers

15.   Providing legal opinion to the government on all legal matter concerning the state

16.   Upholding, protecting and ensuring the progress of rule of law, coordinating and organizing necessary works in order to protect and defend the freedom, security and interests of the people

17.   Providing legal advice to the different state institutions in addition to government in accordance with a determined procedure

18.   Establish standards and procedures for all Government institution on implementation of all state related legal matters.

*(To translate and update new mandate)*