The Association of the Judiciary has refused to comment on Prime Minister Robert Abela’s rant on the integrity of a magisterial inquiry investigating potential money laundering and corruption by his predecessor, Joseph Muscat.
“No comment,” said association president, Judge Francesco Depasquale, when asked by Times of Malta for a reaction to Abela’s comments.
Abela’s rant on Friday evening also drew criticism from the Nationalist Party and rule of law NGO Repubblika.
Addressing a Labour Party event last Friday, Abela harshly criticised Magistrate Gabriella Vella for, in his view, taking too long to conclude a magisterial inquiry into people involved in the fraudulent hospitals’ privatisation deal.
Without mentioning the magistrate by name, Abela said the inquiry was taking too long and questioned whether it was being timed to coincide with the European Parliament elections, to be held this summer.
His criticism echoes that of his predecessor who is fighting in court to have the magistrate taken off the case. Muscat alleges that Vella is impartial because of social media posts published by her relatives.
PN Justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina in a statement described the criticism of a magistrate as irresponsible and dangerous, as he called on Abela to publicly apologise. He urged magistrates and judges to continue doing their jobs without caving in to the pressure exerted on them by Abela, which Aquilina described as “unjust and abusive”.
PN and Repubblika criticise Abela’s comments
“The courts are democracy’s final bastion to ensure people’s rights are respected and the government is held accountable for any abuses of power or excesses,” Aquilina said in a statement.
“The PN has full faith in our judges and magistrates, who have the wisdom and courage to carry out their duties without fear or favour.”
Repubblika president Robert Aquilina told a press conference yesterday that Abela’s and Muscat’s attacks on the judiciary constituted a new deal with the devil (patt imxajtan).
Aquilina described Abela’s “attempt to undermine the judiciary” as a “fascist attack of intimidation”.
He insisted it was “not true” that the magistrate’s inquiry was taking longer than others, adding that both Muscat and Abela only had themselves to blame for the delays, having until recently repeatedly ignored recommendations to establish a special anti- corruption magistrate.
Aquilina argued that Abela’s outburst revealed that he and Muscat were illegitimately privy to confidential information emerging from the inquiry.
“How does Abela know that the inquiry’s conclusions will be damaging to his party, not beneficial? This shows that he and Muscat have information they shouldn’t have,” Aquilina said.
“We, on the other hand, don’t know what the magistrate’s conclusions will be, but we know that Muscat is losing one court battle after another.”
Describing Abela as “unfit for the role of prime minister”, Aquilina said that the Maltese public now knew that his public apology after the publication of the Daphne inquiry was just a matter of “political convenience”.
Aquilina said that the government’s motto was “Joseph Muscat ahead of everything else (l-ewwel u qabel kollox)”, arguing that the government’s priority now seemed to be to defend its former leader.
“Does this mean that whoever robs the public deserves a get out of jail free card?,” Aquilina asked.
Addressing a press conference at the foot of Castille’s steps, Aquilina said that Muscat’s ‘threat’ to stand for this year’s European Parliament elections was “an act of bullying” on the courts and the Maltese public who demanded his dismissal from office in 2019.