A legal bid by Simon Busuttil and David Casa to reignite a bid for an inquiry into Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri has been flatly denied by the courts.

“Contrary to what the two applicants seem to think, there is no ‘legal and judicial limbo, neither dead nor alive’” Magistrate Francesco Depasquale concluded when assessing n application filed by the two Nationalist Party politicians.

The court’s original decision to refuse their request back in May 2018, the magistrate added, was final and could not be appealed. 

Back then, Magistrate Depasquale had rejected a request for a new inquiry into Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri, saying it made no sense to have “double, or even triple” investigations into the same case. 

He had ordered all the documents and evidence presented in that case to be passed over to Magistrate Ian Farrugia, who was already considering a similar application.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia had ruled that there were grounds to investigate the two PEPs, as well as several others including the Prime Minister, over their connections to Panama Papers revelations.

But earlier this month an appeals court reversed that decision and said there was no legal basis to launch such an inquiry.

With Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti having slammed the door shut in that case, Dr Busuttil and Mr Casa filed an application to revisit Magistrate Depasquale’s original decision and to have the magistrate in charge selected by lot.

They were unsuccessful on both counts, with the court saying that the two applicants had already had their request turned down and had not appealed the decision.

In a statement, the government said that the decision was further evidence that Dr Busuttil’s 2017 trips to the courts were not backed by any proof.