Prime Minister Robert Abela said Friday that the magisterial inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia has been concluded and the report has been submitted to the Attorney General.

Addressing the media, Abela said that he will be requesting a copy of the report from the AG and, as promised, he will be publishing it in its entirety. He said that there is an over-arching public interest in the case and he felt compelled to publish it without any redactions.

Sofia, aged 20, died when a building under construction in Kordin collapsed on 3 December, 2022.

Abela said that the public inquiry which he announced last Monday – after the government had voted against the idea five days before - will be set up in the coming days.

The terms of reference for the public inquiry will be based on the findings of the magisterial inquiry and its intentions will be to close off any matters left open by the magistrate in her report.

The conclusion of the inquiry comes four days after Abela announced the setting up of a public inquiry into the tragedy, citing an extension requested by Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia as the main reason reason behind the development. The Prime Minister's U-turn on a public inquiry - which he had resisted for seven months - came just hours before thousands gathered for a vigil in remembrance of Jean Paul Sofia which his family organised in Valletta.

Abela told journalists Friday that the magistrate had 60 days to conclude the inquiry, but this was extended six times to last more than seven months. He said that this is a simple computation, given that seven months have passed since the tragic accident took place.

He refuted the idea that someone had given him information he should not have had, pointing fingers at present and former Nationalist MPs who seemed to relish giving information about magisterial inquiries that should be confidential.

Now that the inquiry has been concluded and passed on to the AG, Abela said that he expected the AG and the police to see what next steps need to be taken and ensure that justice is done.

What has happened is what he wished for from the beginning, he said: that the magisterial inquiry is concluded before any other steps are taken. He said that what he has always been after is full justice. All those responsible will need to shoulder their responsibility, he said.

He said he had initially not wanted the public inquiry to interfere with the ongoing magisterial inquiry.

Abela said that if the parliamentary vote on the Opposition's motion calling for a public inquiry had been taken after the conclusion of the magisterial inquiry, then the government's vote would have been different.

The publication of the inquiry or otherwise remains the sole prerogative of the Attorney General.  Asked by The Malta Independent what guarantee there is that the AG will choose to publish this inquiry, said that he – like any other citizen can – has a right to write to the AG to request a copy of the proces verbal, which is what he said he would do immediately after the end of the briefing.

“It is the discretion of the Attorney General, true, to say whether she will give a copy or not.  I will make a strong appeal for me to be given a copy, not for my personal curiosity but because I believe that the country and society in general has an interest to know how the magistrate and her experts conducted their investigations, about who was responsible for what happened if the magistrate indicates people who are responsible for what happened – I believe that there is an overarching national interest in this case for the report to be given to me so that I can share it with the public, and I will be publishing it in its entirety without any redactions, or omissions as long as they are not imposed on me,” Abela said.

The Department of Information later published a letter in which the PM asked for a copy of the magisterial inquiry report from the AG.