Only Northern Ireland can compel Harbinson to testify - magistrate
Harbinson was the leading financial crimes expert engaged by the Vitals-Steward inquiry
The Maltese courts do not have the jurisdiction to order financial crimes expert Jeremy Harbinson to testify in the Vitals Hospitals case against Joseph Muscat, a magistrate ruled on Wednesday.
Magistrate Lara Lanfranco said this issue fell within the remit of the Northern Irish courts where he was to be summoned to testify via live video conferencing.
The magistrate urged the prosecution to establish whether Harbinson had actually been summoned to testify in Northern Ireland and to establish whether action was being taken there because he failed to appear.
Harbinson was the leading financial crimes expert engaged in a years-long inquiry into the failed Vitals-Steward hospitals deal. That inquiry recommended criminal charges against Muscat, his right-hand man Keith Schembri and several other people, ranging from politicians to civil servants, lawyers and entrepreneurs. All are pleading not guilty to charges.
Last month Harbinson was expected to testify remotely - from a court in Ireland - having previously said he would not be flying to Malta to testify as he “feared for his safety”.
In a separate case, he was fined €500 for failing to appear before the Criminal Court. On the day of the scheduled testimony, instead of Harbinson, the court heard lawyer Sean Xerri De Caro from the Attorney General’s international relations department explain that Harbinson had presented an affidavit to UK authorities dated February 10, 2025 in which he listed reasons why he could not testify in proceedings.
Another document provided by UK authorities indicated that Harbinson was not in the country and would not be returning for a significant amount of time. He added that UK authorities said they did not intend to pursue Harbinson to testify in the case against Muscat and others, having told their Maltese counterparts they now considered the case "closed".
During that sitting in November, prosecutors told the court they would be exploring all legal avenues to compel the witness to testify. The prosecution requested the court to take all the necessary measures in these circumstances.
Defence lawyers argued that the prosecution had based its case on Harbinson. He was not an ordinary witness but a court-appointed expert, and the star witness in this case. They asked the court to evaluate whether Harbinson’s behaviour constituted a breach under Article 522 of the Criminal Code – which allows the court to order the arrest of a prevaricating witness and sentence them to up to three months of jail and a fine of up to €4,600.
In the ruling handed down on Wednesday, Magistrate Lanfranco noted that Harbinson has been summoned to testify under a letter of request made under the European trade convention. This convention emerged from Brexit for cross-country court testimony.
Under this agreement, he was to testify in a court in Northern Ireland, where he would be given the oath, and where the court could apply Maltese law. His testimony would then be transmitted to the Maltese courts, live, allowing for questioning.
The law stated that the national law applied – in this case the court of Northern Ireland. This meant that only the Northern Irish court could take action against him for not turning up to testify before it, or for contempt of court. The Maltese court was precluded from this.
She ordered that a copy of her ruling be passed on to the Northern Irish courts and gave the Attorney General’s office a three-month deadline - starting when the ruling was translated into English – to fulfil this.
AG lawyers Francesco Refalo, Shelby Aquilina and Rebekah Gatt prosecuted.
Lawyers Vince Galea, Giannella De Marco, Franco Debono, Arthur Azzopardi, Stefano Filletti, Edward Gatt, Charles Mercieca, Kathleen Calleja, Grima, Shaun Zammit, Shazoo Ghaznavi, Jessica Formosa, Luke Dalli, Mark Vassallo, Alex Scerri Herrera, Joseph Mizzi, Jonathan Thompson, Chris Cilia, Stephen Tonna Lowell, Ishmael Psaila, Charlon Gouder, and Etienne Borg Ferranti are representing the defendants.