PN MP Jason Azzopardi asked for an explanation on Wednesday on how the Egrant inquiry has not been reopened despite a call made by the magistrate who carried out the inquiry into Pilatus Bank.
Foreign experts had looked into the operations of Pilatus Bank and said that further investigative steps should be taken to get to the bottom of claims surrounding Egrant.
Speaking in Parliament, PN MP Azzopardi insisted that that the Attorney General was legally obliged to immediately comply with the magistrate’s order about the reopening of the Egrant inquiry. However, “this was not done as nothing happened.”
Magistrate Ian Farrugia called for the reopening of Egrant inquiry. This inquiry was held by then Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, and it investigated whether former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife, Michelle Muscat, were the ultimate beneficiaries of funds from the Panama-registered secret company Egrant.
In 2018, a report was issued which found no evidence that they were involved in the matter.
The magistrate who held the Egrant inquiry (Aaron Bugeja) had since been made a judge, thus the inquiry had to be assigned to another magistrate.
During parliament, a bill that will enable the transfer of public sector workers to work in the parliamentary service without losing any of their work conditions in the public service was discussed.
“Although the Opposition agrees with this bill, we are nowhere close to what is needed for this country to truly function as a parliamentary democracy,” Azzopardi said.
He mentioned instances where a number of MPs, notably from the Opposition, had no support when it came to their parliamentary work. Azzopardi also gave an example of how the opposition was continuously ignored when the report of the National Productivity Board was launched.
Azzopardi has since then asked a number of Ministers why the opposition was not included in such matters. No reply has been given.
He also questioned and asked for an explanation on how the government expects people to abide the law, when the state itself is not abiding by these laws.
“How can anyone expect Malta to be taken off the FATF grey list when the government is leading by example where impunity is concerned?”, Azzopardi asked.
Azzopardi also accused the government of trying to bury the findings of the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
He claimed that since the report exposed a number of shortcomings in the country’s institution, the government does not want to address them.
“Why would this government stop the abuse of power, when it is the personification of that abuse? Why would you address unexplained wealth, when it’s your own ministers who carry out that abuse?”, Azzopardi asked.