The Attorney General should identify the individuals who have officially been spared prosecution in connection with the Pilatus Bank inquiry, the Nationalist Party said Friday.
In a press conference outside the AG’s office in Valletta, Justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina said the AG, Victoria Buttigieg, and the Minister for Justice, Jonathan Attard, were "accomplices in the cover-up of the Pilatus Bank scandal."
Aquilina said the Opposition expected the Attorney General to publish a list of people to whom immunity (nolle prosequi) from prosecution had been granted during her time in office.
Rule of Law NGO Repubblika last September had exhibited authenticated copies of international and European arrest warrants that were signed by a magistrate against high-level officials at the now-shuttered Pilatus Bank. The warrants, against the bank’s owner, Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, its operations chief Luis Rivera, operations supervisor Mehmet Tasli; director Hamidreza Ghambari; and chief risk officer Antoniella Gauci, were signed on 24 February 2021 by Magistrate Ian Farrugia.
The warrants were signed three months after the Pilatus Bank inquiry had been concluded in December 2020. The warrants have so far not been executed.
In October 2021, Tasli had even travelled to Malta to testify before the Criminal Court and had been allowed to leave.
"It is unacceptable for the Attorney General to take decisions in secret through which she undoes work carried out by the inquiring magistrate in serious cases such as that involving Pilatus Bank," Aquilina said.
Decisions to overrule a magistrate’s recommendations can only be taken by the AG.
The PN is insisting that the AG had done so in cases against individuals involved in laundering "millions of euros" through Pilatus Bank. Money laundering charges are punishable by imprisonment for up to 18 years.
Aquilina pointed out that Justice Minister Jonathan Attard had recently refused to answer a parliamentary question about the number of nolle prosequi orders issued by the AG since 2013, citing the confidential nature of magisterial inquiries.
Previous ministers had in the past answered such questions in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2018 and 2019, Aquilina said.
The PN is proposing an amendment to the system whereby the AG would have to inform the justice minister whenever such an order is issued, who would then in turn, be obliged to table a copy of the nolle prosequi in parliament.
Government responds
The Justice Ministry, reacting to the PN's press conference, said that the message being sent by PN spokesperson means political interference in the work and operationsw of independent institutions, such as the Attorney General and the judiciary.
"This type of culture and attitude towards the institutions is an example of those who do not know how the rule of law works, or who choose to apply the principle when it benefits them to only."
It said that the government is strengthening the institutions with all the necessary resources.
Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said that the government is focused on implementing the necessary reforms to strengthen the rule of law and governance, and said that "this government was always courageous when it came to implementing reforms, such as those related to appointments to the judiciary, the removal of prescription on politicians, the Whistleblowers Act and amendments to the criminal code." He said that the government will put forward more reforms in the future, mentioning the process of compilations of evidence, adjournments and magisterial inquiries.
"A politician's job is to provide all the necessary tools for the institutions to conduct their work in the best possible way, while they must be left to work serenely."