Attorney General Peter Grech will not resign from his post, telling The Malta Independent that a only two-thirds parliamentary majority can remove him from his position.
Grech was asked about the possibility of a resignation following Civil Society Network’s calls at the end of Sunday’s demonstration for his removal and the removal of the police commissioner, and for the government to replace them with two other nominees approved by two-thirds of Parliament.
Grech told this newspaper, “The Constitution states that the Attorney General is removable from office by the President acting upon an address of the House of Representatives supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members thereof. Such removal has to be based on the ground of proved inability to perform the functions of the office (arising from infirmity of mind or body or from any other cause) or proved misbehaviour.
“In the absence of such, and with respect and submission to the rule of law, holders of constitutional and public office have the responsibility to keep performing their functions.”
Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar has also indicated that he will not resign after refusing to provide a comment to the newsroom.
“At this moment I have no further comments to make,” Cutajar said in a one-sentence reply to a text message freo0m this newspaper earlier this week.
Last Monday, PN Leader Adrian Delia presented a motion for Parliament to urgently discuss the demands made last Sunday, but Speaker Anglu Farrugia ruled to move the debate to a different sitting as both sides failed to find consensus in a fiery debate which saw Farrugia briefly fail to take control of the house.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has continuously backed both Grech and Cutajar, recently saying that he did not think democracy was “about booing, shouting or applauding.”
“I believe justice is not done by publicly lynching or blaming someone,” he said.
He went on to say that Cutajar should not be judged according to the ill-fated press conference he held the previous Thursday, but rather by his actions.
Critics of Cutajar and Grech have long claimed that it is their inaction that warrants their resignation, specifically when it came to failing to investigate further the Panama Papers, and the now-leaked FIAU reports into the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, and Pilatus Bank.
When defending Grech, Muscat has also often pointed to the fact that Grech had been appointed to his role by the previous Nationalist Government.