The government has denied claims that it ignored requests for collaboration on an investigation into oil smuggling involving Malta, a Department of Information statement said.
It was referring to a claim carried in today’s edition of The Guardian, where the Chief Prosecutor of Sicily Carmelo Zuccaro was quoted to have said that, “attempts to collaborate with Maltese authorities on the oil-smuggling investigation had not been fruitful”, and that “an international request for information submitted to investigators in Malta had gone unanswered for 18 months”.
The government said that back in October 2016, the Italian authorities, through Eurojust, referred to the Office of the Attorney General in Malta a request to collect evidence and hear witnesses in connection with this investigation.
In less than three months, the Office of the Attorney General initiated the necessary procedures in the Maltese Courts for the collection of the requested evidence according to law. Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit subsequently held two sittings for the collection of the evidence requested by the Italian authorities, and a third sitting has already been scheduled in the coming days.
Therefore, any claim that Maltese authorities have an interest not to co-operate with other jurisdictions on this case, is completely unreasonable, untrue, and unjust, the government said.