Rule of law group Repubblika has filed an urgent court application asking for permission to intervene in a case instituted by Joseph Muscat on Monday for the removal of Magistrate Gabriella Vella from the hospitals concession inquiry.

The application was filed by Repubblika president Robert Aquilina, who said Repubblika has a “direct, concrete and substantial interest” to intervene in Muscat’s case. He also pointed out that it had been Repubblika which called for the inquiry in the first place in 2019. 

Repubblika had also flagged alleged wrongdoing by Muscat when he was no longer Prime Minister. 

Aquilina said Repubblika also wanted to intervene to rebut Muscat's claim that it knew beforehand about the police search ordered by the magistrate at Muscat's Burmarrad residence. 

Their request for intervention was also in line with the principle of audi alteram partem (hearing the other party). 

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi signed the application.

On Monday, Muscat filed an application before the first hall of the civil court in its constitutional jurisdiction calling for Magistrate Vella not to continue to lead the inquiry into the concession granted to Vitals Global Healthcare to run three state hospitals.

He called for the inquiry to be transferred to another magistrate "who would be objectively and subjectively impartial".

In a Facebook post, the former prime minister said Magistrate Vella could not continue leading the inquiry because of continuous leaks, including from her investigators and because for more than a year, she did not accept his numerous requests to testify. 

Magistrate Vella turned down Muscat's request to recuse herself earlier this month, and the former prime minister immediately replied that he would be taking "all the necessary steps" to ensure that the process treated him with fairness.