Section 140: Closing an investigation: options

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 1016/2567 (2024)

   Which inquiry official in the locality is the responsible official empowered to summarize the file and give a prosecute/no-prosecute opinion under section 140 is a question of fact.

   The accused argued the investigation was unlawful under section 140 and the prosecutor lacked power to prosecute under section 120. The Supreme Court held this was a dispute over which local officer was the responsible inquiry official, a factual question, so the further appeal was barred under section 218 paragraph one and was not accepted for adjudication.

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 4732/2560 (2017)

   If the person who acted as responsible inquiry official had no legal authority to do so, the investigation is unlawful and the prosecutor has no power to prosecute.

   Because the offence was not committed within the Kingdom in the relevant sense, the Attorney-General or acting head had no legal authority to act as responsible inquiry official, rendering the investigation unlawful, so the prosecution had no power to prosecute under sections 2(6), 18, 140 and 120.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.