Cap. 9 Art. 4Nature of criminal action.

(1) The criminal action is essentially a public action and is vested in the State and is prosecuted in the name of the Republic of

Malta, through the Executive Police or the Attorney General, as the case may be, according to law.

(2) A criminal action is prosecuted in all cases where ex officio the complaint of the private party is not requisite to set the action in motion or where the law does not expressly leave the prosecution of the action to a private party.