Sixteen claims for criminal injuries’ compensation

Sixteen claims have been made to the government for compensation for criminal injuries, but no victim has yet benefited from the claims, home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici has told parliament.

The laws governing state compensation for victims of crime were introduced in 2007, when Mifsud Bonnici appointed a claims officer to decide whether victims of crime should be compensated or not and how much.

Compensation cannot exceed more than €23,000.

The major difference between the Maltese process and other European countries like Britain and Sweden is that the latter countries have public authorities supervising and enforcing victim compensation schemes.

In Malta the officer actually has the power to deny compensation upon his moral judgement of the victims' character - a highly debatable discretionary power that is left out of reach of scrutiny. In fact, the claims officer can deny compensation when he is not satisfied about the "victim's character and way of life".

In Germany and Belgium compensation is limited to victims of violent crimes even if other countries like France also compensate victims of theft and blackmail. The Maltese law also transposes an EU directive calling on member states to draw up minimum standards on the protection of the victims of crime, in particular on crime victims' access to justice and their rights to compensation for damages. Yet, no discussion has taken place in parliament on how this new system will be enforced. In a country were political patronage is endemic such a system could be prone to abuse.

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