The Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg has done it again. In her mad rush to protect Labour from more damaging leaks of Yorgen Fenech's chats, she sprinted to court requesting Jason Azzopardi's arrest.
What had Jason Azzopardi done to deserve arrest? He certainly hadn't sold off half the national health service and then collected tens of thousands of euro from a company paid millions by Steward. He hadn't sealed the filthy Mozura windfarm deal that earned Yorgen Fenech's 17-Black €4 million. He hadn't received 300,000 dollars from the LNG floating terminal owner Mario Pullicino. He hadn't given Dragonara fantastic conditions only to collects hundreds of thousands from Dragonara's owner through a bankrupt exotic bird company.
Actually Jason Azzopardi hadn't done anything. But Maltatoday's Saviour Balzan accused Azzopardi in his newspaper column "Who can live under the sword of blackmail?", of 15 May 2023, of blackmailing him by threatening to publish private Whatsapp chats between Balzan and Yorgen Fenech. "There has been constant rumour mongering and recently a blackmail of sorts about Whatsapp chats being published. The origin - none other than Jason Azzopardi".
Balzan is panicking because according to him "I have been under constant threat - yet again - because of Whatsapp texts exchanged with Yorgen Fenech in 2019 being leaked - even though there is nothing remotely incriminating about them". Why is Balzan getting his knickers in a twist if there's "nothing remotely incriminating about them"?
Balzan revealed one reason why. "When he (Yorgen Fenech) complained, like many others would do - in this case about a picture of himself and a title about 17-Black in MaltaToday - I did nothing about it even though I gave the false impression that I had scolded the journalist". Presumably he gave that "false" impression to Mr Fenech, Why? To ingratiate himself.
And another. "Compared to other newspapers, our share of the Tumas pie was very minimal, to say the least", Balzan commented.
And another "On other occasions Fenech would ask me for advice on tackling the media".
And another. "In November 2019, just before Yorgen's arrest, his uncle Ray Fenech known to many as 'Jumbo' asked to meet me. He said he was very worried over his nephew: "something is wrong, can you meet up with him and see what is the matter?". So if those leaks might show Balzan was in touch with Yorgen, it was only because Uncle Ray Jumbo asked him.
Balzan wrote that he had "reported the leak of Jason Azzopardi (sic) to the police" and provided "hard and irrefutable evidence of Azzopardi passing on privileged information (chats) to 3rd parties".
On 31 May, Fenech's lawyers pounced on Balzan's incoherent newspaper column. They wrote to AG Victoria Buttigieg. They used Balzan's article to accuse Azzopardi of "threatening to publish extracts of the chats in violation of a court order". They demanded Victoria Buttigieg take immediate action against Azzopardi. They maintained that the Whatsapp chats had been taken from Fenech's phone and accused Azzopardi of "disseminating documents that have been sealed by court order".
Amazingly, the AG sprang into action. On a mere accusation by Balzan that Azzopardi was about to leak more of Yorgen Fenech's chats, Victoria Buttigieg lodged an application before the courts at lightening speed. She claimed that the Whatsapp chats fell under Article 517(3) and demanded the court take immediate action to prevent their publication. AG Victoria is certainly worth the money Labour is spending on her. Never was there an AG so speedy and diligent at shielding Labour.
Victoria Buttigieg claimed that even the remote possibility that Azzopardi could leak more of Yorgen's chats was sufficient to warrant his arrest. In her application before Judge Edwina Grima, the AG claimed that the WhatsApp chats fall under Article 517(3) of the Criminal Code. That article states that proceedings should be taken against the offender, "either by summons or by arrest".
In the Pilatus case a magisterial inquiry ordered the prosecution of several officials for serious crimes. But the AG decided to provide two of those officials a nulle prosequi. Where a magisterial inquiry found clear evidence that serious crime had been committed, the AG decided to exculpate those who allegedly committed it. But in Jason Azzopardi's case, simply because Saviour Balzan accused him of threatening to publish whatsApp messages, she dashed to Court to get him arrested even though no crime had been committed.
The respected Judge, Edwina Grima, was having none of it. She dismissed the request outright within 24 hours. She humiliated the AG. Those documents in the decree "do not qualify as a publication which the law speaks of in Article 517". The AG had messed up again. "It is considered that no steps can be taken based on the said provision", the Judge ruled.
Judge Grima's ruling is what is expected in a modern democracy. Yorgen Fenech's links to the prime minister, cabinet ministers, politicians, newspaper owners are of significant public interest. The fundamental right to information supersedes Fenech's right to privacy especially since Fenech was allegedly involved in siphoning millions of euro of public funds through illicit links. That is surely of public interest. Fenech's proximity to Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Edward Zammit Lewis, Rosianne Cutajar and others trumps his right to privacy. Everybody knows that - except the AG.
The AG's only reason for existence has become to shield Labour. She did the same in the Mark Camilleri debacle. On 21st March 2023, Camilleri released thousands of chats between Yorgen Fenech and Rosianne Cutajar. The following day Cutajar went straight to the AG to file her complaint and demand Camilleri's arrest. That same day Victoria Buttigieg darted the 200 metres to Court to submit her note. The Court immediately ordered the Police commissioner to investigate. Within 24 hours he concluded his investigations and reported back to the court. Within 72 hours the Court ordered action against Camilleri.
The AG must have been so happy with herself then. Not now. The court has put a stop to the AG's abuse of office to silence government critics.