Questionnaire Malta

I.24 Who supervises a prosecutorial decision not taken by the prosecutor?

The Attorney General apart from being vested by the functions of the public prosecutor is also the chief advocate to government. In this regard, if such a decision shall be taken by the head of a government department, the advice of the Attorney General is in these matters always sought both as a matter of policy and also as a matter of practice. With regards to such decisions being taken by government agencies, unless the respective agency or the Minister under whose portfolio such agency falls, requests the intervention/advice of the Attorney General, then that agency’s prosecutorial decision can only be supervised by the Ministry responsible for it.