Partit Demokratiku today highlighted the government’s aggressive attitude towards politicians and/or journalists following the publication of the Egrant inquiry conclusions, saying this is further threatening people’s freedom of speech.

The publishing of a redacted report would still be totally unacceptable and would further fuel speculation that the report actually contains information that is detrimental to the Prime Minister or to people he is protecting. 

The timing and decision of the Attorney General to appeal the Constitutional Court's recusal of Justice Mizzi is another cause for alarm, PD said, and further erodes trust in our institutions. It is now more unacceptable than ever that the government is trying to prevent an independent inquiry from taking place into other corruption scandals via its appeal against an inquiry into the Panama Papers.

If the government truly is concerned about truth, then it must allow an independent investigation to go ahead into the Panama Papers. The government’s representatives must be ready to answer for their own potential crimes.

Instead, it is preparing to crack down on the Opposition in a country still asking many questions and seeking many answers, in the wake of an assassinated journalist and countless other scandals unrelated to Egrant, the PD said.