Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has announced two new legal changes in Malta affecting the Attorney General.

Speaking during a press conference inaugurating the new Attorney General’s offices, he explained that on Thursday, two legal notices came into effect.

The first deals with the prosecution of major crimes in Malta, whereby such crimes like money laundering and homicide will now be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office and not police officers.

In order to deal with this, the office has hired a number of lawyers, he said, numbering 15.

The second deals with Judicial Review of Administrative Action. He said that when the Attorney General decides not to prosecute, there will now be a remedy for victims and other entities like the Permanent Commission Against Corruption, the Auditor General and others, whereby they can contest such a decision in court.

While ‘not referring to anyone present today’, he said that there were decisions not to prosecute in the past that didn’t go down well publicly.