The government-appointed inquiry into the Gaffarena expropriation scandal will be made public, according to a government statement.

But an explanation given in Parliament by Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis when a similar investigation was launched yielded a different stance.

Dr Zammit Lewis was replying to an unrelated question (about former ITS Director Henry Mifsud) when he explained that the investigations carried out by the Internal Audit Investigation Directorate are not published.  He told PN MP Antoine Borg that while it was his wish to publish the report he could not do so due to a “legal prohibition”.

Asked to explain what this legal prohibition was, Dr Zammit Lewis, a lawyer by profession, said that according to the law such investigations “shall be treated as confidential and shall be solely used by the directorate for the purpose of carrying out an internal affair”.

‘Castille investigating Castille’ - PN

The IAID, which falls under the remit of the Office of the Prime Minister, has been tasked by the government to investigate the Old Mint Street property expropriation scandal after the Nationalist Party wrote to the Auditor General asking him to also investigate the case. Mr Gaffarena made a hefty profit after buying half of a Valletta property that the government was planning on expropriating, allegedly after being tipped off by someone in government. In reaction, the PN said the government is not comfortable in having the Auditor General investigating the case and that the IAID inquiry would be nothing more than “Castille investigating Castille.”

In a statement issued yesterday, the Nationalist Party reiterated that there is a difference between the investigation of the Auditor General’s – who is answerable to Parliament – and the IAID, which reports to Cabinet and does not publish the outcome of the investigation.