Nine civil society organisations have urged the government to publish a White Paper on reforming magisterial inquiries.
A White Paper is a policy document that sets out the government’s plans for future legislation and gives stakeholders an opportunity to assess government proposals and make suggestions of their own.
In a statement on Saturday, the nine organisations said they wanted an opportunity for “open dialogue before the government decides what to present and approve in parliament”.
“Currently all citizens have a right to request a magisterial inquiry. If the government wants to remove or reduce this right, it has a democratic duty to give citizens the opportunity to express their views about this,” the NGOs and activist groups said.
Organisations that signed the statement range from rule of law NGO Repubblika to activist group Moviment Graffitti or human rights advocacy group the Aditus Foundation.
The government tabled a bill in parliament to reform the system of magisterial inquiries on January 14. Its contents remain unknown.
The push to reform the system came after lawyer and former Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi filed a spate of requests for magisterial inquiries linked to allegations of government corruption.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said Azzopardi was “abusing the system” and dragging innocent people into investigative proceedings just to score political points.
Abela has hinted that the reform will “add transparency” to such inquiries while Justice Minister Jonathan Attard has indicated that citizens will need to first ask the police to investigate an alleged crime, before resorting to the courts.
The latter proposal is likely to face significant pushback from civil society activists, who note that requests for inquiries are filed with the courts precisely because the police have failed to act on reports of high-level corruption.
The organisations endorsing the White Paper request said as much in their statement, saying the existing provision made prosecutions related to the sale of state hospitals or offshore company 17 Black possible.
In their request, NGOs noted that the European Commission has repeatedly pushed the Maltese government to introduce laws requiring public consultation and participation in the drafting of laws. Currently, the government can decide when – or if – to open proposals to public consultation.
The following groups signed the statement: