NGO Repubblika has filed a constitutional case in a bid to force magistrate Nadine Lia to recuse herself from the NGO's case concerning Pilatus Bank.
After refusing to recuse herself multiple times, the situation has become very serious, forcing the NGO to push its battle up to the highest court and to consider exploring avenues for justice in international fora if need be, Repubblika president Robert Aquilina told reporters at a press conference in front of the court on Monday.
Lia is hearing a case filed by Repubblika against the police commissioner and the attorney general, who the NGO says failed to press charges against various Pilatus officials despite an inquiry recommending that more than a year ago.
Repubblika has argued that Lia is unfit to hear that case because of her ties to lawyer Pawlu Lia, her father-in-law.
Pawlu Lia served as a lawyer for former minister Konrad Mizzi, former prime minister Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle and Keith Schembri, Muscat's chief of staff. The NGO said all are linked to the Pilatus case and Egrant, or have ties with foreign investors who were involved in questionable deals with Muscat's government and held accounts in Pilatus bank.
Pawlu Lia was also the person who wrote the terms of reference for the Egrant inquiry in 2017, making sure it would never find who owns Egrant, Aquilina said.
However, he pointed out that the Pilatus inquiry deemed it necessary for the Egrant inquiry to be reopened.
Moreover, Nadine Lia had spoken in favour of Joseph Muscat and his administration at a Labour political event in 2017, just two weeks after Daphne Caruana Galizia linked Egrant to Michelle Muscat, the NGO said.
She was still a lawyer then, although already married to Pawlu Lia's son, and Repubblika quoted her saying: "A mistake? Does it happen? Yes. So what? What does it matter?"
The constitutional case, filed by lawyer Jason Azzopardi, says all of this proves that Nadine Lia has a clear conflict of interest and can never give the NGO a fair hearing.
In a decree earlier this month, magistrate Lia dismissed Repubblika’s recusal requests on the basis that her father-in-law has never represented the five Pilatus officials that the case is about.
On Monday, Aquilina again referred to an incident in Valletta some weeks ago, saying that Pawlu Lia approached him publicly and angrily criticised him about their case – raising Repubblika’s suspicion that the magistrate and her father-in-law had discussed the case privately.
The magistrate had also turned down Repubblika's request to have her father-in-law appear as a witness in the case, and said that it was beyond the scope of the case she is leading to probe what was said during what she described as a “spontaneous incident”.
Furthermore, Nadine Lia had a conflict of interest because her father-in-law sits on a commission that disciplines judges and magistrates, Aquilina said.
The magistrate's husband also works with his father, Pawlu Lia, meaning she also has inheritance interests in their financial gain, the NGO said.
"Nadine Lia is seeking to ensure that the truth remains hidden," Aquilina charged.
"Meanwhile, she is breaching our fundamental, universal human right for a fair hearing," he added.