Joseph Muscat has asked for the police commissioner to be summoned to testify in his breach of rights case that seeks to remove a magistrate from handling the hospitals inquiry case.
The former prime minister's move was questioned by a state advocate lawyer because Muscat was seemingly attempting to gain disclosure about the magisterial inquiry into the Vitals hospitals deal.
Those issues were flagged when the court continued to preside over the case in which Muscat is claiming that his fundamental rights would be breached if Magistrate Gabriella Vella continued to handle the hospitals’ inquiry.
The police chief was being asked to produce any document related to the case and bearing Joseph Muscat’s name.
That would include the criminal report filed by Repubblika triggering the magisterial inquiry, pointed out lawyer James D’Agostino, representing the State Advocate’s Office in the constitutional case.
“What’s the relevance of that testimony,” questioned D’Agostino.
Moreover, it appeared that by asking for those documents, Muscat’s lawyer was trying to gain disclosure about the magisterial inquiry.
And that was another cause for concern.
When proceedings resumed on Tuesday, the court, presided over by Madam Justice Doreen Clarke, upheld a request by the State Advocate and ordered that a copy of the original court application filed by Repubblika be removed from the records of Muscat’s case.
That document was attached to a note filed by Muscat’s lawyer before Tuesday’s sitting.
But Madam Justice Clarke observed that that application had likewise not been greenlighted by Magistrate Vella when the Registrar of the Criminal Courts had sought authorisation to produce certain documents in Muscat’s case.
The documents authorised by the inquiring magistrate were clearly listed in her decree and that list did not include Repubblika’s application, observed the judge, thereby ordering the removal of the document produced by Muscat.
Tuesday’s witnesses were meant to be Robert Aquilina and Alessandra Dee Crespo as well as the Police Commissioner.
However, due to some delays in the process of notifying the witnesses, Aquilina and Dee Crespo were not yet notified, although Muscat’s lawyer, Charlon Gouder, pointed out that to date he had issued five notices of summons in respect of those two witnesses and all returned “negative”.
Although a representative of the Police Commissioner was present in court on Tuesday, his testimony was postponed after Gouder explained that he would rather first question the other two witnesses.
Questions to the Commissioner or his representative would depend “greatly” on the answers he got from Aquilina, explained the lawyer.
At the previous sitting, Superintendent James Grech had testified that a decree by Magistrate Vella, triggering the search at Muscat’s private residence, had stated that there was at that stage enough to show that the former Prime Minister could be involved in money laundering and corruption.
Magistrate Vella’s brother and father had also testified on that occasion after Muscat himself testified that the magistrate had taken her relatives’ side by classifying their comments on social media as free speech.
“From that moment on, the case was definitely prejudiced and my rights breached.”
His lawyer requested an interim measure calling for the inquiring magistrate to suspend any further work on the inquiry until the breach of rights case was decided on the merits.
However, that request was turned down by Madam Justice Clarke who also rejected a request for the case to be heard with urgency.
The case continues next month.
Lawyer Isaac Zammit also represented the State Advocate’s Office.