The Public Prosecution Office has decided to hand over to police about 100 unresolved cases that prosecutors had opened themselves back when the agency was still the Prosecution Service. The move appears to reflect a judgment that the cases cannot be wrapped up within a transition period of up to 90 days, now that the revised Criminal Procedure Act has abolished prosecutors' authority to launch investigations directly.
Police and the Public Prosecution Office have agreed to transfer about 100 unresolved cases that prosecutors had initiated during the Prosecution Service era, according to the two agencies on the 5th. Prosecutors lost the power to conduct investigations directly when the new criminal justice framework took effect on the 2nd under the revised Criminal Procedure Act and related laws. They may still investigate for up to 90 days in cases where doing so is unavoidable given the nature of the case or where the statute of limitations is close to expiring. The cases now slated for transfer were judged unlikely to be completed within that 90-day window, sources said.
The cases are expected to move to police in stages starting on the 6th. Once each branch office of the Public Prosecution Office sends a case to the police station with jurisdiction, police plan to review its size and nature before assigning it to an investigative team at a local station or to a metropolitan investigation unit at a provincial police agency.
Requests for supplementary investigation will also be filed in stages for cases that police had referred to prosecutors but that prosecutors had not finished disposing of during the Prosecution Service era.
More than 2,000 wanted-suspect cases that the Public Prosecution Office had taken over from the Prosecution Service and managed have already been transferred in full to police. For most of them, new warrants have been issued and the suspects have been placed on wanted lists under the name of the police. Procedures for the remaining cases are expected to be completed soon, sources said.
