The Prime Minister said he wanted closure on Daphne’s murder. But he will leave behind a plethora of ongoing inquiries and cases that could still damage Labour.
Hospitals deal
The 2015 hospitals privatisation deal saw the unknown company Vitals Global Healthcare take control of St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo General hospitals. Three ministers are subject to an inquiry over the deal in a case instigated by rule of law NGO Repubblika. The National Audit Office is also probing the multi-million euro scandal.
Electrogas deal
The National Audit Office found ‘multiple instances’ where the tender won by Electrogas to build a new power station did not meet minimum competition requirements. The husband of Daphne Caruana Galizia testified in the public inquiry over her murder that the Electrogas contract, which she was investigating, appears to have led to her death. Not a closed case by any means.
Passports scheme
The future prime minister will have to deal with growing pressure from EU institutions to end the ‘cash for passports scheme’, which is seen as leaving a door open for money laundering and tax evasion in a member state. A magisterial inquiry is underway into a senior partner in a law firm alleged to have traded in influence in the sale of passports.
Egrant
No evidence was found of a connection between this Panama company, identified by Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2018, and Joseph Muscat. However, the complete findings of the inquiry that looked into it have not been published and the leader of the Opposition has gone to court to gain access to them. Judgment is due to be delivered next week.
17 Black
Yorgen Fenech, the former Electrogas director who is now accused over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, was named as the owner of the Dubai-based company 17 Black, which according to leaked e-mails was to pay millions into the Panama accounts of Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. A magisterial inquiry is under way.
Murder public inquiry
It took two years of local and international pressure for the Prime Minister to finally set in motion an inquiry looking into whether the state may have caused a risk to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s life. The inquiry board started hearing testimonies last Friday, beginning with her husband and son. The panel was reconstituted after the intervention of the family and is trying to uncover the truth.
Libel suits
Joseph Muscat has refused to drop several libel suits he instituted against Daphne Caruana Galizia, which have now fallen to her family to defend. Evidence produced in those cases would have the potential to do further damage to the, by then, former prime minister and to the Labour government by association.
On Monday, a court adjourned those cases to March.
Judicial appointments
A court is hearing a challenge to the judicial appointments system instituted by NGO Repubblika, which holds that the prime minister’s control over the selection of judges and magistrates breaches the EU treaty in terms of independence of the judiciary. The European Court of Justice is due to weigh in on the matter. The outcome could threaten the integrity of recent court judgments.