Jason Azzopardi has again asked a magistrate to investigate Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, this time over a road in Gozo that went over budget by €10 million.
It is Azzopardi's second request to investigate Camilleri this month.
In both requests, Azzopardi asked the magistrate to seize electronic devices to preserve evidence they contain before it is irretrievably lost.
Apart from the minister, Azzopardi has also asked the courts to investigate the ministry's permanent secretary John Borg and two architects involved in the project, Andrew Ellul and Godwin Agius.
Triq L-Imġarr, the road which connects Nadur with Għajnsielem, cost €10.5 million more than originally allocated to rebuild it.
When Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri announced the project in 2020, he said that it would cost some €8 million, but the NAO found that the final cost of construction reached €17 million, with a further €1.5 million incurred for ancillary costs.
A report released earlier this month by the National Audit Office criticised the spending, saying that inadequate planning had potentially led to the subsequent increase in costs. It also noted that the Gozo Ministry had delayed in providing it with paperwork related to the deal and kept poor records of the project.
Azzopardi has now asked the magistrate to investigate any criminal wrongdoing in the deal. In a Facebook post announcing his request, he said he suspects the project involved corruption, false declarations, embezzlement and money laundering.
In a response later on Friday, Gozo Minister Camilleri said Azzopardi was continuing a crusade of "political persecution".
“I categorically deny all the insinuations mentioned. I have no problem responding to questions when the need arises,” he said.
Camilleri echoed an argument made by Prime Minister Robert Abela about Azzopardi a month ago - that the lawyer is weaponising the system of magisterial inquiries "for perverse and political purposes.”
He said he has faced "plots" and "manoeuvres" in the past weeks which he has reported to the police.
Under the Maltese legal system, private citizens can directly go to the magistrate and directly ask them to investigate an alleged criminal act. A court then decides whether or not to accept that request and begin an investigation.
Azzopardi has used that system to significant effect, with a magisterial inquiry into the Vitals and Steward hospitals scandal having been triggered by a request he filed together with rule of law NGO Repubblika.
That probe led to dozens of high-profile prosecutions.
Azzopardi has since filed similar requests for probes into an alleged ID cards racket as well as claims that LESA is colluding with car hire firms to defraud tourists.
Earlier this month, he also asked a magistrate to investigate Camilleri, his wife and others in connection with claims about corruption at Transport Malta in Gozo.
That request prompted the prime minister to say he wants a reform of magisterial inquiries expedited because people like Azzopardi were "abusing" the system.
What is Azzopardi accusing Clint Camilleri of?
Azzopardi believes Camilleri, the ministry's permanent secretary, and the two architects worked together to inflate costs of the roadworks project.
In an application over 90 pages long, he alleges three of the four - Camilleri, Borg, and Agius - embezzled public funds by misusing them for unauthorised private works, inflating costs, and acting for private gain rather than public interest during the course of the project.
Azzopardi is also asking the magistrate to investigate Camilleri and the three others mentioned in the report for money laundering.
The lawyer is basing his claims on the NAO report, news stories published by The Shift News, and information he says he received confidentially.
The Shift News has reported that contractors responsible for the roadworks carried out illegal private work on land adjacent to the road, the widespread use of direct orders for the over-budget project and the fact that Agius's architectural firm received over €700,000 from the project.