It is now over three years since Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered, and 18 months since the parliamentary assembly had adopted Resolution 2293, based on my report. A lot has happened during these 18 months.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and minister Konrad Mizzi resigned, as did attorney general Peter Grech and police commissioner Lawrence Cutajar.
Melvin Theuma confessed to being the middleman in the murder plot and accused Yorgen Fenech of commissioning it.
Resolution 2293 covered three interconnected themes: strengthening the rule of law, ending impunity for corruption and ensuring justice for Daphne. I have been following its implementation closely.
The assembly’s legal affairs committee has now endorsed my follow-up report.
Resolution 2293 called on Malta to “implement as a matter of urgency the reform packages recommended by the Venice Commission and GRECO, in their entirety”. These expert bodies are helping Malta to implement common European standards on democracy, human rights and the rule of law – standards to which Malta has freely subscribed.
Effective reform requires democratic engagement. Here, the Maltese government has failed badly. In the words of the Venice Commission, “at no stage of the process was there any serious consultation of civil society or possibility for wider public debate… [This] is akin to denying citizens their democratic entitlement to have a say in the shaping of the constitutional order”.
This lack of public consultation has undoubtedly contributed to the inadequacy of the reforms as a whole. The Venice Commission lists a series of outstanding problems with fundamental issues like judicial appointments, the independence of the president and the chief justice, the powers of oversight bodies to act on suspicions of corruption, and more.
In fact, many of the shortcomings relate to anti-corruption measures. Taken individually, each may seem relatively minor but taken together they leave the system much weaker than it should be. This is especially worrying when one remembers that allegations of high-level corruption were a major contributor to Malta’s recent political crisis.
Two problems relate to the criminal justice system generally: magisterial inquiries, which in high-profile cases tend to conclude either very late or not at all, and the compilation of evidence procedure, which can cause delay and confusion.
So long as either of these remains unreformed, Malta’s criminal justice system will remain unfit for purpose.
So long as either of these issues remains unreformed, Malta’s criminal justice system will remain unfit for purpose
There is also a desperate need to reform parliament. The Maltese people deserve better than a part-time parliament with ruling party MPs who are almost all on the government’s payroll. It is no surprise that parliament did not properly scrutinise the recent reforms. This is not how a modern European democracy works.
The government has promised to revise the bills that are still before parliament. But it has refused to address the flaws in adopted laws or the recommendations that it has ignored. It says that the future ‘constitutional convention’ may look at these outstanding problems.
No one knows exactly how the constitutional convention will be composed, how it will work or when it will report. It is notan appropriate solution for urgent problems.
Moneyval (the anti-money laundering body) and Greco (the anti-corruption body) will soon report on Malta’s implementation of their own recommendations. It is not my job to anticipate their findings.
What I can say is that none of the high-profile corruption and money-laundering scandals have been resolved. I am not presuming anyone’s guilt, but Daphne’s investigations and the reports of Malta’s anti-money laundering authority gave real substance to these allegations.
Still, no one has been charged, let alone brought to trial.
The new police commissioner and attorney general may each enjoy a brief honeymoon period but, sooner or later, they will have to produce concrete results.
One process that is producing spectacular results is the independent public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Daphne’s murder, impunity for serious offences and threats against journalists. At present, it is the only process in Malta to shine a light on a dark period of the island’s recent history.
The inquiry must be allowed to reach a proper conclusion, free from curtailment or political interference. The wounds of the recent past will not heal until the full truth emerges and the lessons are learned.
There must also be justice for Daphne. But the various criminal proceedings are complicated, drawn-out and confus-ing; the authorities continue to decline opportunities to cooperate with foreign police investigations; and the suspicions of wider high-level involvement seem not to be explored.
My current mandate may have now concluded but the Council of Europe will continue to follow events. And in the end, for international observers, justice for Daphne will be the acid test for Malta’s rule of law.
Pieter Omtzigt, Council of Europe rapporteur on Malta’s ruleof law