Updated 5.50pm with Azzopardi's statement
A magistrate has dismissed Jason Azzopardi’s request to open an investigation into Silvio Schembri’s wealth, the minister said on Wednesday.
Schembri, who serves as Economy Minister, said he was delighted with the court’s “categorical refusal” to entertain Azzopardi’s request.
“I had to go through a personal nightmare which began on New Year’s Eve, when I was told about the request [for an investigation]” Schembri said on Facebook. “I’ve spent the ensuing time under a cloud of worry that affected me and my family.”
He added: “This now confirms what I always said: that what Azzopardi claimed is not true.”
Azzopardi immediately said he intended to appeal the court decision, saying the magistrate had issued the decree after receiving submissions from Schembri while not giving him the opportunity to rebut them.
"I was under the impression there is a court principle of equality of arms," Azzopardi said.
The lawyer told Times of Malta that he was never notified of any court hearings concerning the probe request.
"The first I heard of it was when I received a copy of the decree on Wednesday," he said.
Azzopardi had filed a request for a magisterial inquiry on the basis of multiple media reports into Schembri’s assets and lifestyle, saying they did not tally with the minister’s publicly declared income.
He said the minister’s unexplained wealth was such that it merited a magisterial inquiry.
Under Malta’s current inquiry laws, private citizens can file a request with the law courts to launch a magisterial probe. Such requests must first be assessed by a magistrate and decisions are subject to appeal.
Court sources told Times of Malta that in this case, the court concluded that the media reports cited by Azzopardi in his application did not satisfy the criteria required by law to launch a magisterial probe.
It is the fourth such hurdle that Azzopardi has faced in recent weeks, following a flurry of requests for probes he filed in the last weeks of 2024.
Last month, a magistrate dismissed his request to investigate Lands Authority CEO Robert Vella, saying Azzopardi had not correctly specified the crimes alleged in his application.
Other requests he filed for separate probes into Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri were stopped due to a technicality, with magistrates saying the requests should have been filed in Gozo’s law courts. Azzopardi subsequently re-filed the requests there.
Azzopardi’s requests for probes into an alleged ID card racket and corruption within law enforcement agency LESA were more successful, with magistrates agreeing to launch inquiries in both those cases.
The government is now seeking to revise the existing system of inquiries to require private citizens to first give the police six months to investigate allegations before the courts can launch probes.
The Opposition as well as many civil society groups have vociferously objected to that reform, saying the government wants to wind back citizens’ rights and defang the current system.