Opposition Leader Adrian Delia on Monday questioned why one of the two soldiers charged with the murder of an Ivorian migrant in April had been allowed into the army when he had a pending court case.

Without referring to him directly, the AFM said on Monday that Lorin Scicluna's case had been decided after his enlistment in the army, but added that the offence had taken place prior to his enlistment.

"The case was not considered of a sufficiently serious nature which merited discharge from the service and as a matter of fact, the Court had awarded him a conditional discharge, having taken also into account that he was a minor when he committed the offence."

It did not specify what the offence was.

The army also said that both men had clean criminal records when they joined.

Speaking in St Julian's, Delia said that people are normally asked if they have a clean record when applying for a new job. If their record is not clean, they cannot find a job. But here we are talking about the army. When the army recruits people it states that applicants must be of good character.

The PN Leader asked what the offence was, and why the army had deemed it not to be serious. He said the excuse produced by the army was "embarrassing."

He also asked why no steps had been taken after the soldier was convicted.

"We asked for an independent and autonomous investigation to see if it could have been avoided. The government is sweeping it under the carpet. Responsibility needs to be shouldered," Delia said.

He also referred to the recent Ombudsman report on the army, which had criticised the way in which promotions had been meted out. The report had also spoken of "serious repercussions," Delia said, adding that "the writing was on the wall."