Madonna cou-ld face a criminal investigation in Britain over the African boy she wants to adopt. Thirteen-month-old David Banda was whisked into the 48-year-old singer?s Marylebone house yesterday after she picked him out at an orphanage in Malawi. Children?s charities in the southern African country objected to the speed at which the multi-millionaire star got the child. But it is the strict laws on assessing prospective adoptive parents in this country that could provide the biggest obstacle in her attempt to officially adopt him. The police could be called in. A social services source at Westminster council questioned the legality of the adoption and suggested an inquiry is now likely to take place. It emerged yesterday that neither Westminster council nor Wiltshire county council, where Madonna has a country home, have had any dealings with Madonna or her husband Guy Ritchie. The local authorities both privately expressed surprise they had not been contacted by the star or her entourage before David was brought to the UK. Rules on the adoption of children from overseas were introduced in 2002 making it a legal requirement for prospective adoptive parents to be assessed beforehand. But it was unclear whether Madonna or Ritchie, a film director, had undergone any such assessment - called a Home Study Report - which can take between six months and a year to complete. Any breach could open up Madonna to criminal proceedings with a maximum jail sentence of a year or a large fine. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 makes it clear parents must be deemed fit to adopt before a child can come to the UK. The law was introduced after a British family, the Kilshaws, adopted twins over the Internet in the US, causing uproar that eventually led to the children being returned to America by court order. A source at Westminster council said: "Obviously if the rules have not been adhered to something will have to be done. "It is not legal not to get in touch with social services and let them know what you are doing. If these claims are true that no one has been contacted then Madonna is to a greater or lesser extent in trouble. In any circumstances anyone would be better sticking to the rules rather than coming back and trying to tick all the boxes afterwards. And there will be no way there would be any special allowances for anyone, whether it?s Madonna or the Queen. "If you have a child in your custody and no one has approved that, I would argue that is unacceptable." Wiltshire county council refused to comment publicly but a source there said the authority had also no contact with Madonna. "I have had no information that they have had anything do with us. We have not had any contact. The local authority has to okay a Home Study Report," said the source. Lawyers expressed surprise that neither local authority had been contacted but suggested Madonna may have already been assessed as suitable by a private agency operating in the UK. A local authority would then need to be contacted within 14 days of David?s arrival in the UK. The star could also face serious legal problems for being in breach of strict Home Office rules ? which say a child must be estranged from his or her blood relatives to be adopted. Inter-country adoption is only allowed if the prospective parent can show the child "has broken all ties with their original family". But while David?s mother died shortly after giving birth, his father Yohame, 32, is alive ? as are his extended family, including uncles and grandmother. Although Banda was forced to place his son in the orphanage because of economic hardship, the field worker reportedly cycled the 25 miles to visit his son each week. "I would bring him food from my garden, then sit and play with him for a while," he said. "I wanted him to know that I was his father, that I love him very much." Madonna yesterday refused to shed light on her adoption bid as the world?s media laid siege to her home.