Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/977918
maltatoday SUNDAY 6 MAY 2018 4 News MATTHEW AGIUS THE former Enemalta chairman accused of taking bribes in the oil procurement scandal that rocked Malta in 2013, had his right to a fair hearing breached by the Pub- lic Accounts Committee. Tancred Tabone won a consti- tutional case this week that he had filed against the Speaker of the House of Representatives and chairperson of the Public Ac- counts Committee. Tabone had been asked in De- cember 2013 to appear before the PAC to be grilled on the Auditor General's report analysing the effectiveness of Enemalta Cor- poration's fuel procurement. He was given a copy of the Guide for Witnesses appearing before the PAC of the House of Representa- tives, published in 2011. The guide listed the conse- quences should a person sum- moned to testify before the PAC refuse to answer questions with- out a legally valid excuse. Tabone had already been ar- raigned in court in February 2013 under arrest and charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering in connection with Enemalta's fuel procurement – the same merits of the PAC pro- ceedings. The criminal case is yet to be decided. Once summoned to the PAC, Tabone invoked his right to si- lence. In February 2014, the Speaker of the House expressly ruled that he was expected to tes- tify before the committee and an- swer any questions he was asked: if the witness felt a question to be potentially incriminating, he could request to be made exempt from answering it, but this was ultimately up to the chairperson to accept or turn down the re- quest. Tabone had written to the PAC chairman, pointing out that Er- skine May's Parliamentary Prac- tice had stated that committees had suspended inquiries where witnesses were charged with criminal offences related to the matter under inquiry. Speaker Anglu Farrugia coun- tered that his decisions were not subject to scrutiny by the courts and neither were its guidelines. He said the court lacked the ju- risdiction to invalidate or declare null a decision by the Speaker because the regulation of proce- dure in the House of Representa- tives was not subject to review, and that any interference in this procedure would amount to a breach of privilege. "The PAC acts in the national interest," he said, assuring there was no intention to force anyone to answer incriminating ques- tions and the committee's remit was limited to overseeing public accounts and seeing that they are kept in line with the law. In her final decision on the mat- ter, Madame Justice Anna Felice declared that the request for Ta- bone to testify and answer ques- tions about the issue breached his right to a fair hearing under both the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. She ruled that the Speaker's rul- ing on the matter also breached those rights as did the "Guide for Witnesses appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, Parliament of Malta", where it said that in cases of objections made by a witness to a question from the committee, the Speak- er's ruling binds the committee and consequently the witness. The court declared that the denial of the right to silence in any case where a person is un- dergoing criminal proceedings breached the subject's rights to a fair hearing. In addition, the court said that the manner in which sittings before the PAC were broadcast on the internet was creating "se- rious prejudicial pre-trial public- ity" to the plaintiff. It ordered that wherever the guidelines for witnesses refer to testimony, these shall not apply to the applicant in the course of the current proceedings con- ducted by the PAC and that a copy of this judgment be inserted into the acts of the criminal case against Tabone. magius@mediatoday.com.mt Hospice Malta would like to notify its members that the Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 21st May 2018 at 6.00pm at Attard Parish Centre, Triq il-Kbira, Attard. All members are invited to attend. PAC rules breached Tancred Tabone's right to fair hearing Former Enemalta chairman Tancred Tabone is still facing charges of bribery in court over the 2013 Enemalta oil scandal Judge says oil scandal PAC hearings' broadcasts created 'serious prejudicial pre-trial publicity' to man charged with bribery Tabone had already been arraigned in court in February 2013 under arrest and charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering in connection with Enemalta's fuel procurement – the same merits of the PAC proceedings. The criminal case is yet to be decided