Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1531608
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 JANUARY 2025 ANALYSIS FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Tools of persecution Tonio Borg is proposing that the magistrate receiving a request from an ordinary citizen to investigate some wrongdoing would have to first ask the Chief Justice for permission to proceed with the inquiry. Opening the debate during the Sec- ond Reading on Bill 69 on 23 May 2006, Borg argues the amendment is needed to introduce "certain control" over magisterial inquiries. During committee stage Borg moti- vates his reasoning by saying that he does not want magisterial inquiries to end up being used as tools of "perse- cution". Borg expresses concern that people could end up being investigated on somebody's whim with the person on- ly hearing about the inquiry "through the grapevine". Borg's solution is to introduce a filtering system through which the Chief Justice would decide whether an inquiry requested by anyone other than the Attorney General or the po- lice, should go ahead or not. But the Labour Opposition is having none of it and accuses Borg of under- mining trust in the judiciary. Labour leader Alfred Sant has already labelled Borg's initiative as an attempt by Cab- inet to control what kind of inquiries are carried out by independent mag- istrates. Fascists and Mussolini "Why does government want to in- troduce this amendment? This is the million-dollar question! Is it because you don't trust magistrates? This is a frontal attack on magistrates," Labour justice spokesperson Gavin Gulia says during the first sitting of the Second Reading. Gulia even accuses the government of trying to stifle magisterial inquiries because of two highly controversial inquiries initiated by ordinary citizens – one involving a former police com- missioner and another concerning al- leged abuse at the Foundation for To- morrow's Schools. The latter inquiry had been requested by Labour MP Carmelo Abela and although Magis- trate Consuelo Scerri Herrera found no criminal wrongdoing, she had raised serious concerns over certain practices in the government-run en- tity. The magisterial findings embar- rassed the Nationalist government. But Gulia's criticism of the amend- ment pales into insignificance when compared to the tough words used by fellow Labour MP Jose Herrera in the debate. Herrera first accuses the Nationalist MPs of being "fascists", then retracts the description and instead labels the proposed change a "fascist amend- ment" that harks back to the "Musso- lini era". "If a magistrate is able to send a per- son to prison for 10 years, you should trust them enough so that if they want to investigate you, they decide so for themselves and not have someone else do it for them," Herrera argues, calling government MPs cowards. Borg withdraws amendment This was the scene that characterised the heated debate in 2006. Eventually, at committee stage in July, Borg with- drew his amendment. Instead, after consulting the Opposition, two new safeguards were introduced without impinging on the independence of magistrates. The new amendment would allow the suspect identified in the citizen request to be notified and given the chance of contesting the allegation. It also introduced the right to appeal a magistrate's decision to proceed or not with an inquiry. These safeguards, introduced to prevent an Italian-style political purge feared by Tonio Borg, are those still in place today. Addition- ally, the law was amended to ensure that the magistrate who will eventu- ally carry out the inquiry is drawn by lots to avoid forum shopping. This proviso is also in place today. Reversal of roles Ironically, 19 years later, the roles of the two major political parties have been reversed. Now, it is Labour Prime Minister Robert Abela who wants to restrict the manner by which ordinary citi- zens can request magisterial inquiries while the Nationalist Opposition is insisting this is a dangerous move that threatens democracy. The PN has said it will use all means at its disposal, including street pro- tests, to oppose any such move by the government. Abela claims the judicial tool is be- ing used by people like lawyer Jason Azzopardi and NGO Repubblika to carry out political witch hunts. He even used the word "persecution", which Tonio Borg had used in 2006. Abela calls it abuse of the system and an attempt to destabilise the country by stifling the administration. Over the Christmas holidays, Azzo- pardi single-handedly filed five sepa- rate requests for inquiries to be held into what he claims is abusive behav- iour by public and elected officials. Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri fea- tures as a suspect in three inquiries, one of which also features his wife, who works at Transport Malta's Gozo office, while the other two implicate Economy Minister Silvio Schembri and the CEO of the Lands Authority, respectively. The inquiries follow an- other two Azzopardi had requested last summer into alleged rackets at LESA and Identity Malta respectively. So far, the government has made no concrete proposals as to how it in- tends to amend the law. Nonetheless, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard was quick on the ball to present the First Reading of the Bill in parliament after the Christmas recess. The Bill itself remains under wraps and the Oppo- sition, in an unorthodox move called a division on the First Reading, forc- ing a vote to take place at a later stage. It will be the first vote in a string of other votes to be taken until the Bill is approved. Protecting public servants But on Sunday 12 January, the Prime Minister upped the ante, insisting the government will also enact legislation to ensure civil servants investigated for alleged crimes carried out in the course of their professional duties would only be subject to prosecution in their professional rather than per- sonal capacity. Once again, no detail was provided. It was a reaction to the fact that three permanent secretaries were charged with criminal wrongdoing following the conclusion of the Vitals inquiry. Additionally, the permanent secretary for the Gozo Ministry is one of the people identified in Azzopardi's latest requests for magisterial inquir- ies linked to the ministry. It is an open secret that the prose- cution of permanent secretaries in the Vitals case has caused unease within the public administration. Abela's latest proposal is an attempt to unshackle the administration by offer- ing its top brass some form of protec- tion but the intensification of the polit- ical rhetoric suggests something more. Where are the fascists? A battle on magisterial inquiries and the protection of civil servants is hardly the stuff that excites ordinary people. But it evidently suits Abela's political agenda to use the occasion to associate the PN with Jason Azzopar- di and Repubblika, whom he describes as extremists. The Prime Minister and his entou- rage will try and depict PN leader Bernard Grech as a hostage to these 'extremist' elements. Abela's strategy is partly buoyed by Azzopardi's recent faux pas of having accused Cabinet Secretary Ryan Spagnol of wrongdo- ing when he worked at Identity Malta only to admit the claim was false and apologised for it in court. However, any attempt to stifle mag- isterial inquiries could also be inter- preted as a sign of lack of trust in the independence of magistrates – the same argument the Labour Opposi- tion used in 2006. This will be a hard- er nut to crack within judicial and le- gal circles. Whether this battle will gain the Prime Minister and the Labour Party any brownie points with the elector- ate is debatable. Abela has painstak- ingly insisted over the past days the reform will not stifle justice but pre- vent abuse. But with history doing a full circle, it does leave you wondering where the 'fascists' have pitched their tent today. The old Parliament at the Grand Master's Palace in Valletta