Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1246053
3 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 MAY 2020 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The lawyer at the centre of the probe is Charles Mercieca, who less than 24 hours after resigning his post at the AG last week, appeared in court as part of busi- nessman Yorgen Fenech's defence team in a constitutional case filed against the public health superintendent. Zammit Lewis had described the move as "insensitive", amid serious concerns raised by the Caruana Galizia family that Mercieca may have been privy to infor- mation about the murder case. The case was raised in parliament yes- terday by Nationalist MP David Thake, who questioned Mercieca's move and criticised the Justice Minister's "weak" criticism. MaltaToday is informed that the gov- ernment recevied two letters of concern over the case from the OSCE and the committee on legal affairs and human rights of the Council of Europe. Mercieca, the son of former Labour MP Franco Mercieca, graduated as a lawyer in 2017. The Attorney General's office told MaltaToday he was employed as a train- ee lawyer in July 2018 and promoted to lawyer in line with normal procedure in January 2020. The AG said Mercieca never worked on the Fenech prosecution. The Criminal Code provides that ad- vocates who would have acted on behalf of one party, and then change over in the same lawsuit, can only do so with the consent of the first party, under pain of penalties. Zammit Lewis said the inquiry has a month to conclude its work and present its findings to him by not later than 16 June. The terms of reference were not pub- lished but MaltaToday understands that these include verifiying whether Mercieca had access to the files concerned, whether he discussed the case with colleagues at the attorney general's office and whether he was privy to some sensitive informa- tion about the Fenech case. Lawyer's 'insensitive' move prompts inquiry Former Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi MATTHEW AGIUS A 72-year-old COVID-19 patient who had previously been in in- tensive care has been discharged. This emerged as Superin- tendent of Public Health Prof. Charmaine Gauci gave her daily briefing on the local COVID-19 situation yesterday. On Tuesday, Malta registered three new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total of active cas- es up to 67. A total of 506 posi- tives out of 44,655 swab tests. On Monday alone, 1,341 tests were carried out. The total number of recovered patients stood at 434 at last count. The 72-year-old patient who re- covered had been on a ventilator in the ITU, she said. The three new cases are people who had contact with previous cases. Contact tracing led to a number of people being tested, of which three were positive. Two of the new cases were healthcare workers, Gauci said. 30 healthcare workers have been infected in total since the begin- ning of the pandemic. Fielding questions from the me- dia, the superintendent said that Malta's contact tracing proce- dure was proving effective. "Social distancing is best meas- ure and must remain until we have a vaccine. We can't return to our old habits for the time be- ing," Gauci said. She added that the Superin- tendence of Public Health was in contact with the Ministry of Education on how best to reo- pen schools and what mitigation measures to take. Preparatory work was under- way, but there were no plans to open schools as yet, she said. Active coronavirus cases up to 67, with 44,655 swab tests carried out Two of three news cases are healthcare workers A relative of a man who died after being tasered and then administered a tranquiliser has shed more light on the fatal incident that happened last Friday. In an angry Facebook post, Dylan Ghiller, nephew of victim Ronnie Ghiller, 48, accused the authorities of ignoring over 20 phone-calls his family had made to the Żabbar police station in the space of three days, asking that the man be given as- sistance as he was in a bad mental state. The family are awaiting the results of toxicological tests on Ghiller's body, alleging that a doctor had used a tran- quiliser on him without first informing or consulting with his family about any allergies or possible interactions with other medications he was using. "These police came to the scene and chucked everyone out, taking the law into their hands," he wrote, adding that his uncle had re- ceived no help from the po- lice before the incident. The victim, who police had described as armed, was on- ly carrying a broomstick, his nephew alleged, also claim- ing that the presence, one storey below him, of 20 RIU police officers "armed to the teeth" negated the need for tranquilisers. Ghiller's sister Sandra Ghiller said her brother was fearful of COVID-19 and the queues of people waiting for nearby shops that stretched to the front door of where he lived. The police had said in a statement that Ghiller was aggressive to a doctor from the Paola Health Centre. The man was administered a tranquiliser after being tasered, following a long standoff. He passed out and died sometime later in hos- pital. Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace is conducting an in- quiry into the incident. Man who died after taser and tranquiliser 'only armed with a broomstick' nephew claims