The rebuttal by the authorities that they cannot take action against those involved in the “fraudulent" hospitals’ deal was proof that Robert Abela and Joseph Muscat controlled the country's institutions, the PN claimed on Thursday.

Last week, Opposition leader Bernard Grech and MP Adrian Delia filed a judicial protest calling on the authorities to take action against those who defrauded the Maltese people. 

But on Wednesday, the State Advocate, Attorney General and Police Commissioner have told court they had no power to do what the Opposition was asking of them.

"The PN will no longer allow the Police Commissioner, AG and State Advocate to be controlled with strings by Muscat and Abela," Grech told a press conference on Thursday.

Flanked by Delia, Grech claimed that by failing to take criminal action over the hospital's deal, the three institutions had abdicated from their constitutional obligations.

"Their inaction is perpetuating fraud and corruption," he said. 

The PN will be officially responding in court to the counter-protest in the coming days, he said.

In his counter-protest, the State Advocate argued that he had already done all he could by acting upon the government's instructions in arbitration proceedings between Steward and the government.

The law did not grant the State Advocate the power to take action on his own steam as Grech and Delia were expecting them to.

But on Thursday, Delia said that the State Advocate had the power to act out of their own accord.

"In his counter-protest, the State Advocate goes diametrically against what the constitution says," he said.  

Quoting article 91a of the constitution, Delia said that the State Advocate should act from their own individual judgement and should not be controlled by any person. 

The State Advocate has a lot of power to protect citizens, but instead, they are following orders, Delia said. 

"This institution has also been taken over by the government," the former PN leader said. 

On the other hand, the AG and Police Commissioner both argued that their remit lay within criminal law and they could not get involved in civil matters. 

But Delia said that the PN was asking for criminal action, not civil. 

"If this weren't so important, it would be funny," he said. 

Delia said that according to the final court judgement, the hospitals deal had "malicious intent", and therefore, criminal action must be taken.

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