The Attorney General has been accused of helping three Ministers “who want to hide the truth about the Egrant inquiry” by Opposition Leader Adrian Delia.
Speaking at a press conference on the steps of the court building this afternoon, flanked by PN Secretary General Clyde Puli and candidates Errol Cutajar and Janice Chetcuti, Delia said that it was clear that the only people being denied access to the Enquiry report were himself “and the rest of the people of Malta and Gozo.”
Delia had just filed his reply to a court application filed by Ministers Edward Scicluna, Konrad Mizzi and Chris Cardona in which they had requested the revocation of a decree ordering them to testify.
“It is shameful that the three witnesses…who had been notified on 26 August 2019, left until a few days before the sitting of the 14 October to table this application,” said Delia, quoting from the reply filed in court today.
The witnesses have no legal standing in the proceedings had could not request the revocation of a decree, argued Delia’s lawyers Vincent Galea and Andre Portelli. Besides this, there was a decree prior to the one impugned by the witnesses, which also compelled them to testify, said the lawyers.
It was clear what they were required to testify about and their arguments to the contrary had no juridical basis, reads the court application.
“Whatever the applicant witnesses say, the point remains clear and unequivocal. In their replies in the acts of the inquiry, they cited passages from the Egrant inquiry, which passages are not found in the conclusions published by the Attorney General for public consumption. The question that the witnesses must answer from the witness stand are clear : where did the cited passage come from?”
The reply may have implications on the constitutional proceedings. The magisterial proceedings, pending or otherwise, have nothing to do with this, said the lawyers.
“We have already seen how this Egrant Inquiry is accessible to the Prime Minister, ministers and the head of government communications, aside from other people close to the present government. With this evidence, the plaintiff wishes to continue to show how the actions of the AG breached and continue to breach his fundamental rights.”
In a press conference held outside court, Delia said it was pointless for the ministers to try and hide behind rights which they claimed to have in the acts of the inquiry. “The only restriction on the access to the Egrant report was on the Leader of the Nationalist Party and the Leader of the opposition and the rest of the people of Malta and Gozo.”
