Cap. 9 Art. 675Disposal of property on conclusion of proceedings.

(1) Saving the provisions of article 671 and of the following sub-articles of this article, where the court on the conclusion of any criminal proceedings has not provided how property exhibited during the proceedings is to be disposed of according to law, any property so exhibited shall be preserved by the registrar.

(2) Where the Court of Magistrates as court of criminal inquiry discharges the person charged as provided in article 401(2) and the Court decides how the property exhibited before it is to be disposed of such decision shall not be given effect to before the lapse of the period of one month referred to in article 433(3) and if the Attorney General, within that period, issues a warrant for the arrest of the person discharged the said decision shall remain without effect.

(3) Where the Court of Magistrates as court of criminal inquiry discharges the person charged but does not decide how the property exhibited in the proceedings is to be disposed of, and the Attorney General does not issue a warrant for the arrest of the person discharged, such property shall be preserved by the registrar and if within one year from the date of discharge no fresh proceedings are instituted as provided in article 434 and the property has not been released in accordance with the provisions of this title the registrar may apply to the court for an order authorising the return of the property to the person to whom it belongs, if known, or declaring the property forfeited in favour of the Government of Malta where the person to whom the property belongs is not known.

(4) Where in any final judgment of any court of criminal jurisdiction no provision is made for the disposal of any property exhibited in the proceedings and no claim is made for the release of such property within one month from the date of such judgment such property, unless forfeited by virtue of the provisions of article 23 or any other provision of this Code or of any other law, shall be forfeited and the court shall, on the application of the registrar and subject to the provisions of sub-article (5), order the release of such property in favour of the Government of Malta.

(5) Any person who immediately before the forfeiture had a legal title to the property forfeited as aforesaid, or the lawful heirs thereof, shall be entitled to compensation for the property forfeited provided that where the property has been sold such compensation shall not exceed the amount realised by the Government from the sale of the property and provided also that compensation is demanded by an application to the competent court within six months from the date of the order mentioned in sub-article (2).