The Director of Construct Furniture, John Agius, has filed an application in court in order to the leak of a magisterial inquiry into the death of an employee to the media.

Matthew Bartolo was 17 years-old when he got caught in a woodworking machine at Construct Furniture in 2015, resulting in his death.

In the application, filed on behalf of Mr Agius, his daughter Amanda Cefai and her husband James Cefai, the Police Commissioner has been asked to investigate the leak while the courts have been asked to take action.

The report was published on the Sunday Times of Malta. It stated that according to the findings of the inquiry, company director Mr Agius, his daughter and son-in-law, Mr and Mrs Cefai should be facing criminal charges for involuntary homicide and a number of other charges.

The defendants claimed that publishing the findings before they had the inquiry in hand and before criminal proceedings were even initiated was abusive. In addition to this, it creates a prejudice against the company directors and could potentially create an obstacle for proper judicial proceedings to take place.

In the application, the defendants held that they do not agree in any way with the conclusions of the inquiry for a number of reasons, and that they will contest at the opportune moment. In view of this, they are demanding an investigation and that action is taken against the individual responsible for leaking sections of the findings.

Investigating magistrate was Joe Mifsud, the court application was filed by Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Edward Gatt.