Cap. 621 Art. 33Monitoring orders.

(1) Where the Attorney General has reasonable cause to suspect that a person is guilty of a relevant offence, the said Attorney General may apply to the Criminal Court for an Order, (hereinafter referred to as a "Monitoring Order") requiring a bank or other financial institution licensed to operate in Malta to monitor for a specified period the transactions or operations carried out through one or more accounts in the name of the suspect, or through one or more accounts:

(a) suspected to have been used in the commission of the offence; or

(b) which could provide information about the offence or the circumstances thereof; or

(c) which could provide information as to the location and the amounts of proceeds of crime, during or after the commission of the offence.

The Bank or other financial institution on the receipt of such Order by the Criminal Court shall proceed to monitor the account or accounts as indicated in the Order, and shall communicate to the Attorney General the information resulting from the monitoring.

(2) The application for a Monitoring Order shall be made in and the decision of the Criminal Court in such application camera shall likewise be given in camera.

(3) (a) Where from the information resulting from the monitoring of an account or accounts in accordance with a Monitoring Order made in accordance with sub-article (1) hereof it appears to the Attorney General that a relevant offence has been committed, and that such relevant offence may have resulted in proceeds of crime, the Attorney General shall communicate to the Director the information resulting from the monitoring.

(b) The Director shall study the information received in terms of paragraph (a) hereof for the purpose of establishing the quantum of any proceeds of crime and of their location, and where for such purpose he deems that any other account or accounts may need to be monitored in order to gather information for the aforesaid purpose, he may request the Attorney General to apply to the Criminal Court for the issue of further monitoring orders in respect of such accounts.