Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told The Malta Independent on Sunday that he has complete faith in Magistrate Anthony Vella, who is leading the inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, just as he has complete faith in all members of the judiciary.
He was asked to comment after former PN MP and failed Labour candidate Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando wrote to judiciary watchdog, asking it to investigate Magistrate Vella for ‘failing’ to take possession of the murdered journalist’s laptop.
The MCST chairman wrote to President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca in her capacity as Chair of the Commission for the Administration of Justice.
MaltaToday reported that the police had filed a request with the magistrate to take possession of the laptop. The newspaper said the magistrate could not say whether that request had been granted.
The request from the police came after investigators realised that the laptop they had was an old one that had not been used for a couple of years. Caruana Galizia’s sister, Corinne Vella, told a consortium of journalists working on the Daphne Project that the family have the laptop and did not trust the police with it. It is believed that the device may contain information about the slain journalist’s sources, which the family wants protected.
Pullicino Orlando asked the CAJ “to look into what is widely being held as a very serious shortcoming on the part of Magistrate Anthony Vella”.
“It is now public knowledge that Magistrate Vella ignored the request of police officers investigating the assassination of Mrs Daphne Caruana Galizia to take possession of a laptop that was withheld from them by family members. This may have been a crucial piece of evidence in this case – a case that has shocked our country and the world.”
The former MP said six months had passed since the request was made.
“This behaviour may or may not have been influenced by Magistrate Vella’s connections with the aforementioned family,” he wrote.
Asked whether he had faith in Magistrate Vella, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said; “I have absolute trust in all members of the Judiciary.”
Bonnici refrained from commenting on the merits of the case in view of a judicial protest filed by one of the three men accused of the murder, Alfred Degiorgio, who claims that the laptop might contain information that could be used in his defence.
“Since the point relating to the laptop was the basis of a judicial protest filed by one of the persons accused of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, I feel that I should not comment on this," Bonnici said.