Prime Minister Robert Abela has urged the police to track down the person who leaked a magisterial inquiry to ex-PN MP Jason Azzopardi.
Speaking on ONE TV, Abela said it is known within certain circles who leaked the findings of an inquiry into a tragic death at a Wasteserv plant in 2022.
The prime minister said with some “good investigations”, the police would establish who was behind this leak.
“We cannot expect those doing wrong not to face justice,” Abela said of the “illegal” leak.
Azzopardi published the findings of the inquiry on social media in November 2023.
Wasteserv CEO Richard Bilocca and five other officials have since been charged with involuntary homicide as a result of the inquiry.
On Friday Abela also doubled down on the need to reform magisterial inquiries to stem abuse.
The current system allows ordinary citizens to report abuse and trigger an investigation led by the judiciary.
He said the law regulating inquiries never foresaw the system being “abused” as a political weapon.
The prime minister hit out at the five inquiries recently requested by Azzopardi, including against ministers Clint Camilleri and Silvio Schembri. Abela also slammed the naming of private businesses in these inquiry requests.
These “abusive” attacks have already done damage, Abela said, adding that the aim was to introduce more responsibility in the use of these inquiries.
He railed against what he termed as a lack of safeguards for those being investigated under the present system: “People are not given an opportunity to defend themselves, there are no safeguards against the innocent. I mention Alfred Camilleri, an example of integrity. Joe Rapa too. People are being accused before the courts without even knowing they are suspects."
Camilleri and Rapa, two former permanent secretaries, both faced charges in connection with the hospitals' scandal.
The prime minister also name-dropped Sandro Craus, a former head of OPM customer care criminally accused in connection with a fake job given to Daphne Caruana Galizia murder middleman Melvin Theuma.
Abela claimed Craus had ended up being charged on the back of a “vindictive report”.