Former Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil has not accepted the court ruling out an investigation on Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, saying that he will continue “to knock on justice’s door until this is opened”.

The court today, again, turned down a request Busuttil made with MEP David Casa for an investigation. But Busuttil is not lying down yet.

“For the second time in a few weeks, the Maltese courts have denied a request to open a magisterial investigation on the involvement of Mizzi and Schembri in a corruption scandal revealed by the Panama Papers three years ago,” Busuttil wrote on his Facebook page.

He said that investigations were started in many countries after the Panama Papers revelations, and they led to criminal proceedings, resignations and jail terms. “It is only in Malta that justice was not done,” he said.

Busuttil said he respected the court decision, but expressed his regret that no institution in Malta is ready to investigate a case of corruption involving people in power.

This has happened in spite of facts including the opening of secret companies in Panama by Mizzi and Schembri.

But what has been revealed is not enough for an investigation to be opened in Malta, he said, and the court decision means that there is no remedy for justice to be meted out and for a European Union law on money laundering is applied.

This confirms, he said, that the Venice Commission was right to express concern about rule of law in Malta.

He said he has a choice – lose heart or continue to knock on justice’s door until it is opened, in Malta or in Europe. We choose the latter, he said.