The public inquiry which will look into the death of Jean Paul Sofia has been tasked with investigating the State’s responsibility in protecting construction workers from harm, and has also been tasked with probing the government’s land transfer to the developers behind the site where the tragedy happened.
The terms of reference for the public inquiry were presented to the media and published by the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday evening, two weeks after the inquiry was announced.
The public inquiry – which is being led by Ombudsman and retired judge Joseph Zammit McKeon and made up of Auditor General Charles Deguara and court expert and architect Mario Cassar – can therefore now begin its work.
According to the terms of reference, the inquiry board must investigate whether the land which was allocated by the government to developers Matthew Schembri and Kurt Buhagiar – who were building a timber mill on the site of the collapse – was lawful, regular and followed the necessary procedures, and also whether there was a link between the allocation of the land and the building collapse and its consequences.
The board must further investigate where the state had the necessary rules in place before, during, and after the death of Jean Paul Sofia and whether it ensured that the necessary regulations, policies, processes, obligations and preventive measures to protect people’s health and safety during construction works were being enforced.
Furthermore, it must also investigate whether there are adequate measures to prevent injuries and fatalities on construction sites integrated into all construction sector processes, and whether planning, development and construction processes are equipped with the necessary laws, policies, regulations and processes to, as much as possible, eliminate the risk of injury and death.
Finally, the board will also look into whether any State entity failed to take reasonable steps to above injury and/or death.
The board has also been tasked with making recommendations on how health and safety on construction sites can be improved.
Read the full terms of reference here
The board has been given five months to complete its work, although it does have the power to seek an extension if it deems fit.
The board will then give a copy of its final report to the Prime Minister and Jean Paul Sofia’s family, after which the report will be published and tabled in Parliament.
MPs will be able to debate the report immediately, but the government also bound itself to hold a parliamentary debate on the recommendations within the report a year after it is tabled.
The inquiry will hear witnesses at the law courts in Valletta and will be public save for instances when the board chooses otherwise due to the sensitivity of the witness’ testimony, for data protection reasons, or to avoid prejudicing other legal proceedings.
However, if the board chooses to ultimately redact any information from its report, an unredacted version must be shown to the family of Jean Paul Sofia regardless.
Sofia’s family and their legal representatives are also entitled to participate in the inquiry process and they were also heavily consulted in the drafting of the terms of reference, and the inquiry must also take into account the findings and conclusions of Magistrate Marseann Farrugia’s inquiry into the case.
Five people currently stand accused of having involuntarily murdered Sofia in a construction collapse in December 2022.
The five – developers Matthew Schembri and Kurt Buhagiar, architect Adriana Zammit, contractor Miromir Jovicevic and his wife Dijana Jovicevic – were charged only days after Magistrate Farrugia concluded her inquiry, which was in turn less than a week after the Prime Minister finally relented from his insistence against calling a public inquiry.
They have pleaded not guilty, and were granted bail when they were charged on 23 July.
In a short statement, Sofia's mother Isabelle Bonnici said that the appointment of the public inquiry is an important step for justice to be done for Jean Paul Sofia and for the public.
"We have a lot of questions on the shortcomings which there may have been in Jean Paul's case, but these questions will certainly be asked by many other people who have been affected by construction projects," Sofia's mother said.
"We believe that the public inquiry must investigate development and construction projects from every aspect, starting from the start of the process - which in a case like Jean Paul's started with the participation of Malta Enterprise and INDIS Malta - then continuing with the planning and construction process, and continuing to investigate until the last moment of the traedy when the injured had to be rescued," Bonnici continued.
She concluded that her requests started in order to prevent other families from going through the sorrow and suffering that they are still going through, adding that this will remain their aim throughout the inquiry.
In its own statement meanwhile, the Nationalist Party welcomed the publication of the terms of reference, but noted that had it been appointed immediately after the tragedy as the PN had been saying, with the allocated period of five months, then it would have already been concluded and full justice would already have been done.
"A mother, father, and Jean Paul's family have been left for months to beg because Robert Abela continued to be stubborn with them," the PN said.