We considered it necessary, together with the Assistant Attorney General, as our will to fight corruption is self-evident, to further assist the investigating authorities in their work, on the basis of the actions included in the updated national horizontal Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
To this end, the Corruption Investigation Coordination Team was established under the auspices of the Legal Service, the first meeting of which was held today and which was attended by the Chief of Police, the head of the MOCSA, the Head of the Criminal Section of the Legal Service, the Police Director of the Crime Prevention Department and other officials.
The Team, which is essentially a specialized mechanism for coordinating criminal investigations of corruption offences, has as its terms of reference the supervision, guidance and coordination of procedures for investigating serious criminal corruption cases, as well as cases likely to involve elements of corruption.
The Team shall be headed by the Prosecutor General or the Assistant Prosecutor General or their representative, under whose direction the Team shall exercise its terms of reference.
The Team shall be composed of experienced officials from the Legal Service, the MOCSA and the Police, with each Service appointing its representatives. Ad hoc participation will be open to representatives of other public or wider public sector authorities or organisations, where and when their involvement or information is deemed necessary for the handling of a particular case. It is always understood that the Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General, the Chief of Police and the Head of the MOCA may participate in all meetings of the Group, regardless of whether they have their own representatives in this Group.
As regards the responsibilities of the Group, which will meet both on a regular and ad hoc basis at the offices of the Legal Service, its members will inform each other of serious cases of corruption and/or cases likely to involve elements of corruption that are under investigation, with a view to providing guidance, coordination and effective supervision of the cases. In particular, the members of the Group, acting within the remit of the service they represent, will, inter alia. [*]They shall decide on measures to ensure adequate coordination between the agencies involved, where necessary, and [*]They shall provide advice and guidance to the investigative team examining a particular case, where necessary.
The purpose of both the Assistant Attorney General and myself in establishing the Corruption Investigation Coordination Team is to have cooperation with the recently established Independent Anti-Corruption Authority, with each agency of course acting within its area of competence and without in any way affecting the constitutional powers of the Attorney General as derived from the Constitution.
Thank you and I am at your disposal if there are any questions.
(ML)
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