OFFICIALS have welcomed a new law enacted late last month which paves the way for Myanmar to cooperate with foreign nations in criminal investigations.

U Kyaw Sein, a director at the Attorney General’s Office, said the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Law enacted on April 28 would help to curb crime, including transnational crimes.

U Kyaw Sein said the law would enable more effective investigations and prosecutions of crimes.

He said provisions under the law permit Myanmar courts to accept evidence provided by the criminal investigation organisations of other countries.

It also allows Myanmar citizen to testify in criminal investigations being conducted overseas.

U Kyaw Sein said the law was enacted to meet Myanmar’s obligation under the 1988 United Nations convention against illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Myanmar signed the convention in 1991. Earlier this month it also acceded to a UN convention on transnational organised crime adopted in 2000.

He said provisions under the law allow Myanmar to request an investigation into suspected criminal activities from any other signatory of the two conventions.

Myanmar will also be able to conduct investigations at the request of other signatories, U Kyaw Sein said.

U Kyaw Sein, who was involved in drafting the law, said there was similar legislation in Australia, Canada and Thailand. Recommendations from the UN Office of Drugs and Crime were used as reference in drafting the law.

The law has resulted in the formation of an 11-member board headed by the Minister for Home Affairs, Colonel Tin Hlaing. The board’s tasks will include requesting criminal investigations by foreign countries and handling their requests for investigations in Myanmar.

The joint secretary of the government’s Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Police Colonel Hkam Awng, also welcomed the law.

He said it would help in criminal investigations of drug trafficking offences, which were mostly committed by crime syndicates.

Police Colonel Hkam Awng said the mutual legal assistance law would be more effective if separate MoUs for the same purpose were signed with other countries in the region.