Updated 11.30am

Joseph Muscat “did not show up” for a court session last month that offered him disclosure of the evidence compiled against him during a criminal inquiry into the hospitals deal.

The former prime minister has claimed his rights were breached as he was never given the opportunity to testify in the inquiry.

He has further complained that he was charged with money-laundering and corruption without being questioned by the police about the evidence gathered by the inquiry.

According to the inquiry report, a court session was held on April 9 to give Muscat a copy of the evidence.

However, the session was cancelled as Muscat “did not show up”.

The inquiry into the hospitals deal was concluded on April 25, with criminal charges against Muscat and a raft of other individuals and companies issued soon after.

The inquiry report further detailed how Muscat and his wife Michelle refused to give investigators the PIN codes needed to access their mobile phones.

These phones ended up being sent to the US to be unlocked by the Homeland Security Investigations Department.

The inquiry report indicates that the work to unlock Muscat’s iPhone 11 had not yet been completed by the time of the inquiry’s conclusion.

Muscat’s phone and other electronic devices were seized during a January 2022 search of his home and office.

The ex-prime minister appears to have been tipped off about the planned search after the magistrate notified the police about the plans.

Investigators said in the inquiry report that during the search, Muscat was “prepared” with a copy of a contract he had signed with a Swiss company linked to the hospitals deal.

The consultancy contract is suspected to have been used as a vehicle to pass on funds from Steward Health Care.

Muscat insists the €60,000 in payments he received under the contract was for genuine work carried out.

The deal for Steward to run the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals was annulled last year by a civil court on fraud grounds.

Muscat reacts

In a statement sent to Times of Malta on Monday, Muscat's lawyer Vince Galea said the former prime minister had asked the inquiring magistrate for more than a year to testify and answer questions, however, she had ignored his request.

"The inquiring magistrate decided to call Dr Muscat only after he filed constitutional proceedings asking, among other things, for her removal from the inquiry.

"Upon being notified of this request, Muscat filed an application in the constitutional proceedings filed against the state attorney and attorney general asking the court to provide for the necessary measures because what was being requested by the same magistrate would have obviously impinged on the constitutional proceedings. In the meantime, the inquiring magistrate concluded the inquiry and sent it to the attorney general."

Referring to claims that Muscat was tipped off about the police search in his home, Galea said Muscat has already flagged "various social media posts in which it was gleefully claimed by certain people that this search would be made".

"It is to be recalled that certain exponents connected to the filing of the report found themselves outside Muscat's house observing the operation which is usually assumed to take place under confidential cover.

"Muscat would have wished to further comment on the contents of your article but cannot do so by virtue of a court decree prohibiting him from doing so”.