Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1069175
3 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 9 JANUARY 2019 YANNICK PACE AN order by Magistrate Ian Farrugia for a magisterial inquiry into the revelations from the Panama Papers was revoked by the court of ap- peals on Tuesday, in a stun- ning decision that appears to have – for the time being – taken top Labour brass off the hook. Back in July 2017, Magistrate Farrugia had found sufficient grounds for an inquiry to be opened into possible money laundering by government officials and other people, on the basis of documents made public by the Panama Papers leak in 2016. The officials were Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, as well as businesspeople Bri- an Tonna, Karl Cini, Malcolm Scerri and Adrian Hillman. Specifically, at the time of the complaint, Schembri and Mizzi had been revealed to have had offshore companies set up by auditors Brian Ton- na and Karl Cini. Busuttil had also rode on an unfounded allegation by the late Daphne Caruana Galizia – later dis- proved in a magisterial in- quiry – that Joseph Muscat was the owner of another offshore company, Egrant; Adrian Hillman had a busi- ness relationship with Keith Schembri, while Malcom Scerri is a business partner of Schembri. The inquiry was requested by former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who filed a request asking the court to in- vestigate the indicated people. The request was filed some weeks after the 2017 general election, in which Labour had won by a sizeable majority de- spite the allegations of graft. At the time, the request was upheld by Farrugia but the men filed appeals, which were in turn assigned to Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi. This prompted Busuttil to file a request asking for the recusal of the judge given that he was married to Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi. The request was turned down, weeks before Mizzi was due to retire, after which the cases were then assigned to Mr Jus- tice Giovanni Grixti. Judge Grixti concluded that Magistrate Farrugia had not observed the right of the ac- cused to be informed about replies, declarations and new documents presented by Bu- suttil. In his decision Grixti notes that Busuttil had never clearly stated "that the facts as de- scribed by him amounted to the crime of money launder- ing". He said Busuttil was obliged to clearly state what crime he believed had been commit- ted and, within the context of the case at hand, to indicate which of the accused persons were involved and how. "It seems as though the ap- plicant does not want to as- sume responsibility, so much so that in sum of his allega- tions, he says that the German MEP Langen had declared publicly that these facts indi- cate a textbook case of money laundering." Furthermore, Busuttil's po- lice report was found not have satisfied the prerequisites laid down in the criminal code since it did not describe the alleged crime or the subject matter of the crime with all its details Finally, the Judge noted that the original application was just Busuttil's personal view, adding that "in recounting many occasions, sees an ul- terior motive behind every- thing, which he is at liberty to do, but he does not say how each one or all together could have been a crime meriting a magisterial inquiry". This, the judge said, quali- fied the report as speculation. In a tweet following the de- cision, Konrad Mizzi said the court had dismissed the Panama Papers accusations against him as nothing but speculation. On his part, Busuttil ques- tioned how the courts could refuse to open an inquiry when Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri had been caught "red-handed". "This cannot be right. Where can we go for justice to be served in Malta?" PN MEP David Casa said in a tweet that the inquiry had been requested as a last resort to force the Police Commis- sioner to take action on over- whelming evidence of corrup- tion. "Today's court decision exposes the grave deficiencies in our rule of law. Obscene." Government reaction In a statement, the govern- ment referred to the Judge's assertion that the claims made by Busuttil only amounted to speculation. It said that fol- lowing the Egrant inquiry, this latest inquiry, which was requested by Busuttil himself, had cleared the Prime Minis- ter and others. "The allegations made by the member of parliament Simon Busuttil were described by the court as pure speculation, so much so that there weren't even enough ingredients for an in genere inquiry to be held," the government said. It added that the decision confirms a decision by mag- istrate Francesco Depasquale, in which he had refused a re- quest by Busuttil and MEP David Casa for there to an in- quiry into Mizzi and Schem- bri. Stunning decision reverses Panama investigation into Labour's top brass Boxes of evidence... an Appeals Court judge yesterday said Simon Busuttil (fourth from left) had not presented substantial evidence to sustain any money laundering allegation to merit an investigation "It seems as though [Busuttil] does not want to assume responsibility, so much so that in sum of his allegations, he says that the German MEP Langen had declared publicly that these facts indicate a textbook case of money laundering."