Criminal charges will no longer be issued by the police but by the Attorney General, once a Bill which provides for the setting up of a State Advocate become law.
The latter would take over the AG’s existing role of government’s legal counsel.
Details of these reforms were announced on Thursday by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici in a news conference during which he launched the Bill.
The main objective of the Bill is to split the AG’s existing dual function of prosecutor general and government’s legal advisor. The changes were announced in the wake of the shortcomings flagged last year by a group of experts from the Council of Europe, known as the Venice Commission.
The Bill, expected to be published in the Government Gazette in the coming days, also provides for the AG’s Office to take over all court prosecutions in the criminal court of magistrates, which are currently handled by the police. However, such change would not be implemented immediately, but gradually, to enable the AG’s office to have enough staff within its prosecution unit.
Although the Bill was announced a few weeks ago, Dr Bonnici on Thursday spoke about changes in the manner in which the AG and the State Advocate would be appointed.
Originally, the government had insisted it would be following the existing model of the appointments being the sole prerogative of the Prime Minister.
However, the government is now proposing to adopt the same mechanism used in the selection of judges for EU institutions whereby there would be an open call and the applicants would appear before a panel of experts. The latter would then make their recommendation to the Prime Minister, who would have the last say on whether or not to take the board’s advice.
Dr Bonnici pointed out that Peter Grech will remain Attorney General when this reform came into force. Another change was that the AG would have the right to inquire with the police on the state of any pending investigation.
The Justice Minister said that the Bill addressed another shortcoming flagged by the Venice Commission with respect to the existing system whereby the same person who investigated decided whether to file charges.
Consequently, the issuance of charges would be taken over by the AG’s office. “This will bring Malta in line with European best practices,” he said.
Although this Bill will be amending the Constitution, Dr Bonnici noted that none of the proposed provisions would require a two-thirds parliamentary majority to be approved. He added that it was the government’s intention is to have it approved by Parliament before this rose for the summer recess.
As in the case of the AG, the State Advocate would have security of tenure and it would only be possible to remove him from Office through a two-thirds Parliamentary majority. Both institutions would eventually be housed in the building which until recently housed the museum of fine arts in Valletta. This building is currently being renovated.