Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1532272
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 FEBRUARY 2025 What is there to hide? Editorial THE brutal efficiency with which government is acting in its proposed reform of magisterial inquir- ies is alarming. In just a matter of weeks since the Prime Minister instructed his Justice Minister to get things going, the proposal has gone from an unknown quantity to a Bill in parliament on which the debate at Second Reading stage is expected to start on Tuesday. At this rate, this could easily become the most con- troversial piece of legislation in recent memory to become law within the shortest timespan possible. The government is trying to paint this reform as some sort of exercise to safeguard ordinary citizens from persecution by those who want to abuse the judicial system. What the reform does, however, is to shield ministers, politicians and top public offi- cials from scrutiny. As the law stands today, ordinary citizens can file a direct request with the court for a magisterial in- quiry to be held if they suspect wrongdoing of sorts. It is another tool that ordinary citizens can use to keep politicians and public authorities in check. It is a tool that has been effective in bringing to justice several high-profile individuals, including former prime minister Joseph Muscat, Konrad Miz- zi and Keith Schembri over corruption and money laundering charges. These cases are ongoing. The proposed reform that Abela & Co. so desper- ately want to implement undermines all this be- cause it puts in multiple stumbling blocks intended to discourage ordinary citizens from seeking magis- terial inquiries. Private citizens will be forced to first file a police report and only after a six-month period can they request that a judge seek clarifications from the po- lice on the progress of their investigation. At this stage, the Criminal Court can order a magisterial inquiry to be held. But crucially, the proposed amendments also dic- tate that a higher level of proof will be required by the ordinary citizen to request an inquiry and any decision taken by the court on how to proceed should be based on the balance of probability rather than reasonable suspicion. In its detailed analysis of the proposed legal chang- es, Repubblika described government's inquiry re- form as democratic backsliding because it weakens the fight against corruption. "In a context where the only effective tool available to Maltese citizens to ensure that grand corruption is prosecuted has, over several years, proven to be their right to petition magistrates to conduct inquir- ies, the removal of such a right is a serious backslid- ing in the country's rule-of-law framework," Repub- blika said. Former chief justice Silvio Camilleri also warned that the reform will "only serve to shield politicians and their persons of trust from investigation". He went as far as saying that the government has "captured" the police and the AG's office and the proposed reform "seeks to tie up all remaining loose ends". This leader endorses Repubblika's conclusion and agrees with the sentiment expressed by the former chief justice. There is nothing genuine about the proposed re- form in so far as it concerns the right of ordinary citizens to request a magisterial inquiry. The exercise was a knee-jerk reaction to five re- quests for public inquiries filed by former MP Ja- son Azzopardi over the Christmas period. The in- quiries targeted ministers Clint Camilleri and Silvio Schembri and several other people, connected to entities or projects that fall within their purview. For different reasons, all five requests were refused by the duty magistrates who received them, which means no investigations were started. Azzopardi has a pending appeal against the decision in the case concerning Schembri. This state of affairs shows that the current frame- work does have safeguards in place to stop inquiries from happening if the necessary elements are not met. In contrast, two other requests filed by Azzopardi last summer were accepted and magisterial inquir- ies are underway. The cases concern the national identity management agency, Identita, and the local law enforcement agency, LESA. Within this context, this leader has serious misgiv- ings over government's true intention behind this reform. This does not mean that certain aspects re- lated to inquiries should not change. Giving victims of crime or their heirs access to the inquiry report at no cost and affording them the right to be informed of an inquiry's progress are two such instances where reform is needed. But using these positive changes as a selling point, while sliding in other changes that limit the right of ordinary citizens to request an inquiry, is wrong. It just raises serious suspicion that government is rushing through these changes because it fears some form of investigation that could embarrass it. Really and truly, what is Robert Abela scared of? What is there to hide? People deserve answers. Quote of the Week "Let me be clear – Alex Dalli won't be removed... it is easy to sit behind a desk, censure in comfort and write reports." Prime Minister Robert Abela insisting that former prison director Alex Dalli will be retained as Malta's envoy for immigration in Libya, while taking a dig at the Ombudsman over the damning report on prison life when Dalli was in charge. MaltaToday 10 years ago 8 February 2015 Desperate political parties gave up Ordnance Street to get hawkers' votes AN email published by the Labour Party yesterday served as a crude reminder of a last-minute electoral promise made by the former lands minister Jason Azzopar- di, pledging the relocation of the monti hawkers to Ordnance Street by December 1, 2013. The publication of the email appeared to put paid to Opposition leader Simon Busut- til's accusation that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had 'sold his soul for votes' over the hawkers' relocation on Ordnance Street and beneath the new parliament designed by Renzo Piano. The email, dated March 9, 2013 – voting day – copied to then PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier at 4:13pm, was published after Busuttil said he would move out Monti hawkers from Ordnance Street. Azzopardi's email, whose content the former minister had already confirmed in an earlier news report back in March 2013, confirms that the Nationalist administra- tion was supporting the monti relocation to Ordnance Street. "I am authorized to inform you that a Na- tionalist government will commit itself to a relocation of the monti from Merchants' Street to Ordnance Street by no later than 1 December 2013," Azzopardi wrote. In the email he clarifies that the re- location will apply to the daily flea market and that the area will not spill over into Republic Street – a factor that alone differs from Labour's original intention to have the hawkers cross over Republic Street. The email published by the Labour Party blanks out the name of the recipients of the email.