In a hastily-called press conference last Monday, just 90 minutes before a vigil was set to take place outside his office, Prime Minister Robert Abela made a historic U-turn which saw him give in to public pressure and appoint a public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia.

The 20-year-old died when a building under construction collapsed in Kordin on 3 December 2022. Abela had relentlessly denied a call by the Sofia family – with a growing public support – for a public inquiry to look into the incident, insisting that a magisterial inquiry is enough. He pushed against an Opposition motion calling for the public inquiry, with the government voting against.

But things finally changed. Last Monday the PM first called an urgent parliamentary group meeting and later announced, at a press conference, that he had changed his mind. He said he was doing so because the magistrate in question had requested an extension to complete her inquiry.

Abela said that the inquiry board will be made up of Judge Emeritus Joseph Zammit McKeon, who is currently serving as Ombudsman, Auditor General Charles Deguara and Mario Cassar, who is a court technical expert and architect.

The Prime Minister stated that he appointed these men as he believes they have the capabilities and experience necessary to respect the three principles he wishes this inquiry to maintain throughout its entire legal process: total transparency, open scrutiny of the relevant authorities and institutions and the way forward to scrutinise and inspect the overall health and safety regulations on construction sites.

Here is a brief overview detailing the backgrounds of these three members on the board.

Joseph Zammit McKeon

Judge Emeritus Joseph Zammit McKeon was unanimously voted in as Parliamentary Ombudsman by the House of Representatives on 6 March and was sworn in just two days later. Zammit McKeon stepped down from his position as chairman of the Malta Maritime Forum immediately following this appointment.

In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, soon after his appointment, Zammit McKeon stated in April that “the role of the Ombudsman is not only to investigate complaints that people and companies have, and by people I mean everyone and not just Maltese citizens" but it also makes recommendations which “allows the public administration to put its house in order”.

Zammit McKeon, who was a practicing lawyer before being appointed as a judge back in 2009, had handed down 2,106 judgements over his 12 years as a judge. He retired from the Bench in March 2021 and spoke about the dangers behind the denigration of the judiciary by authorities and politicians (especially on social media) in his final sitting.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman formerly also served as chairman of the Occupational Health and Safety Commission in 1994 before becoming the first chairman of the Malta Transport Authority later in 2001. In 2006, Zammit McKeon became the first chairman of the Board of Appeal from Awards on Tenders by Local Councils; this term ended with his appointment in January 2009 as Judge of the Superior Courts of Malta.

Over his 12-year period as a judge, he presided over cases within the First Hall of the Civil Court, the Court of Constitutional Jurisdiction, the Constitutional Court and the Courts of Appeal and Criminal Appeal (in their Superior Jurisdictions). He was also assigned as president of the Civil Court (Commercial Section) in April 2018.

Charles Deguara

Charles Deguara is the current Auditor General after being re-appointed by President George Vella for a second five-year term back in March 2021. He was voted into this position following unanimous approval by the House of Representatives. Deguara’s first term began in March 2016 after he succeeded Anthony C. Mifsud in his role following the latter’s appointment as Parliamentary Ombudsman, also by unanimous approval.

During his first term as Auditor General of Malta, Deguara was noted to contribute towards improving upon the efficiency of the National Audit Office (NAO) of Malta through the enhancement of human, physical and technological resources. Alongside his deputy auditor general, Noel Camilleri, Deguara is currently implementing NAO’s 2019-2023 strategy that is seeking to improve performance and governance across the public sector.

Deguara was formerly the chairperson of the Schengen Task Force and the director-general for the Land and Public Registry Division (2002-2004) before becoming permanent secretary within the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs (2004-2008).

According to Deguara himself while speaking with TVM News back in July 2022, since becoming autonomous from the public sector, approximately 75-85% of his Office’s recommendations are typically implemented according to numerous follow-up audits.

AG Deguara notably spoke up in November 2022 to pressure Parliament to fill in the vacant positions of Standards Commissioner and Ombudsman at the time. Former Standards Commissioner George Hyzler had stepped down from his position to commence his new post at the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in Luxembourg, while the Ombudsman’s post was still held by Anthony C. Mifsud, who had stayed on beyond his term until a replacement was found.

Mario Cassar

Mario Cassar is an architect and technical expert for the Courts. Perit Mario Cassar is also a civil engineer with over 35 years of working experience; this includes his working competence within Court proceedings relating to building construction accidents.

Through his working experience, Cassar has notably become renowned for his expertise in the local construction industry.

Cassar was appointed to the panel of four that collectively worked on the results of the magisterial inquiry on Miriam Pace’s death, led by Judge Emeritus Lawrence Quintano. Cassar worked on this panel alongside engineer Adam Mifsud and another court expert, Mark Simiana.

Pace died in her home in Ħamrun as her residence collapsed while excavation works were taking place in an adjacent plot. The aforementioned panel, from Pace’s magisterial inquiry, examined overall excavation and construction regulations to accordingly analyse the reasons behind the devastating incident.

The final report featured recommendations ranging from safeguards to short-term measures and long-term goals to reform the building industry. This report was published in April 2020 – just a month after the terrible accident occurred.

Some recommendations from this report included the temporal limitations of excavation works, details on assigning responsibility and initiating enforcement proceedings, the introduction of better registration schemes for contractors and the development of a full set of local building legislation.