Jason Azzopardi has filed a third request for a magisterial inquiry into Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, this time over an Olympic-sized swimming pool and aquatic centre that ran €8 million over budget.
In his court application, Azzopardi said that dealings around the project mimic tactics used by the Italian Mafia to embezzle public funds.
Quoting news articles by Times of Malta, The Shift and Malta Today, the lawyer and former Nationalist MP said there is reasonable suspicion of deliberate mismanagement to transfer public funds into private hands.
He points to the construction costs of the project, which were meant to cost €9 million but ballooned to over €17 million.
“What interest and motivation did the individuals mentioned have, and still have, in finding ways to double the expenditure of public funds for such a project for no reason at all, if not because they have a private interest in matters entrusted to them due to their office,” Azzopardi said.
He also points to the use of concrete sourced from an illegal batching plant for the project and argues that public funds were knowingly directed to an illegal source.
The 82-page court application asks that a magistrate also investigate Gozo permanent secretary John Borg.
Asks magistrate to look for evidence
Azzopardi asked a magistrate to look for evidence relating to criminal association to commit a crime, corruption, abuse of public office, embezzlement, misappropriation, fraud and money laundering.
This application is Azzopardi’s third request for an investigation into Camilleri.
He previously asked that Camilleri be investigated over a road in Gozo that went over budget by €10 million and requested a magistrate investigate Camilleri, his wife and others in connection with claims about corruption at Transport Malta in Gozo.
Azzopardi has also asked for an inquiry into Economy Minister Silvio Schembri’s “unexplained wealth”.
Private citizens can directly ask a magistrate 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 in the past, 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.
We have to ensure that those who lie and abuse the system to put people under magisterial inquiries face justice
That probe led to dozens of high-profile prosecutions.
He 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.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has pledged reform, saying that people like Azzopardi are abusing the system so that people are put through the “calvary” of court proceedings even if they are clearly innocent.
“We have to ensure that those who lie and abuse the system to put people under magisterial inquiries face justice,” he said on Sunday. Abela has backed Camilleri and Schembri saying “I am with you” at a recent Labour Party rally.
He has further said the government will protect civil service and government entity workers from being taken to court in their personal capacity.
Justice Minister Jonathan Attard tabled a motion in parliament on Tuesday to amend the criminal code and reform the way people can request a magisterial inquiry.