Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today was non-committal when asked about why Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had been given a copy of the Egrant inquiry, saying that since there was a constitutional case ongoing in court regarding the issue, he should not be making declarations that could “prejudice” this case.
Muscat was replying to a question by The Malta Independent whether he had been informed about the fact that Bonnici had been provided with a full copy of the 1,500 page Egrant inquiry by the Attorney General.
The constitutional case referred to by Muscat is one instituted by Opposition Leader Adrian Delia, who is arguing that he should be provided with an unabridged copy of the Egrant inquiry, saying that anything other than this would be creating political imbalance as the Prime Minister was using the inquiry for his and his government’s political gain.
Attorney General Peter Grech was one of the 22 witnesses that Delia summoned as part of this case told the court last Tuesday that he had emailed a copy of the full Egrant inquiry to Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, despite refusing to give a copy to the Leader of the Opposition.
On his part, Bonnici has defended the fact that he has been given access to and has been assisting the Prime Minister with the handling of the Egrant inquiry.
In a short comment to this newspaper, Bonnici said, “As Justice Minister I have a duty to assist the Prime Minister on questions of national importance, as this inquiry was.”
He however avoided number of other related issues he was questioned about, saying, like Muscat, “Since there are pending procedures in court, I cannot express myself on the issue more than that.”
Thus far, only the conclusions of the Egrant inquiry have been made public, last June, despite the Prime Minister promising that the full inquiry would be published, albeit with some redactions. The constitutional case that Delia filed meanwhile is scheduled to continue on 9 October.
Government cannot take political responsibility for an “autonomous and independent” authority
Quizzed on whether political responsibility should be taken for the recent decision of Planning Authority to approve a mammoth db Group project in Pembroke, Muscat reminded that the PA was an “autonomous and independent” authority and that political responsibility did not come into the matter due to this fact.
He said that if decisions had to be cleared by the government first, they may as well dismantle the whole process and replace it with a government department.
Muscat also reminded that the local council representative on the board for the vote, Pembroke mayor Dean Hili, had been elected to his post on the Labour ticket and that no pressure had been put on him in terms of how he should vote. Hili in fact was one of the four board members to vote against the project.
Regarding the funding of the Planning Authority, Muscat reminded that the PA gains funding through the planning applications that it receives. The PA has come under fire in recent days after it emerged that it had flown in a board member to partake in the vote on the db Group project by private jet. The jet cost the PA €8,750 and was authorised by chairman Johann Buttigieg.
Asked whether the position of Buttigieg was tenable after this controversy, Muscat again said that the PA was an autonomous authority and that the government could not intervene on such decisions. He said that the PA had taken a lot of good decisions in the past, and some other controversial ones, but warned that the government could not intervene on decisions it did not like or agree with as otherwise the authority would not be autonomous.