Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg has received 10 separate calls for her resignation/removal for eight different instances, with most of these calls coming from the Nationalist Party and NGO Repubblika.

Repubblika’s president Robert Aquilina and PN’s spokesperson for justice Karol Aquilina were both contacted by this newsroom for their comments on AG Buttigieg and the reasons behind their calls for resignation.

Aquilina told this newsroom that “Victoria Buttigieg should have never been appointed as Malta’s Attorney General. Her appointment was destined to be a recipe for disaster”. The PN MP reiterated the Chamber of Advocates’ public concern regarding her initial appointment as Malta’s first female AG. The reasoning behind this was Buttigieg’s lack of experience in criminal law prior to her appointment by Prime Minister Robert Abela in September 2020. Criminal proceedings make up a significant portion of the AG’s duties.

The PN spokesman told this newsroom that “since her appointment in September 2020, she has consistently made irresponsible decisions and committed numerous blunders”. Moreover, the PN MP stated that “she has single-handedly tarnished the reputation of the Office of the Attorney General to such an extent that only her removal can restore the respect and integrity it deserves”.

Repubblika’s president shared a similar opinion, saying that “Victoria Buttigieg’s record is there for all to see”. He criticised her ability to prosecute cases, including cases when “the evidence was given to her on a silver platter”. Aquilina also told this newsroom that Buttigieg’s success rate to secure convictions is “nowhere to be seen”.

Both Robert and Karol Aquilina are of the opinion that Buttigieg is not representing the interests of the Maltese public as she should.

Both also shared their annoyance at Buttigieg’s reluctance to resign and that she refuses to acknowledge calls for her removal.

“She never sought to explain her conduct or justify her decisions, even decisions that caused deep hurt to police officers who risked their lives facing bullets shot at them by people Victoria Buttigieg let off,” Robert Aquilina said.

The NGO president was referring to the time when AG Buttigieg offered a reduced sentence to Darren “it-Topo” Debono through a 10-year plea deal for information on the armed robbery he was involved in in the 2010 HSBC bank heist (see separate story).

Robert Aquilina said an Attorney General should honestly and competently seek to ensure justice, however, “Victoria Buttigieg doesn’t even come close”.

On her reluctance to resign, Karol Aquilina stated that this “underscores her lack of understanding of her duties and responsibilities as Malta’s Public Prosecutor”. Furthermore, he said that she “appears to believe that the independence granted to her Office places her above the law and in a privileged position, answerable to no one”. In this vein, the PN MP highlighted her continued avoidance to respond to the Opposition, various NGOs, as well as the media.

Karol Aquilina told this newsroom that “the longer Victoria Buttigieg remains in office, the more delayed Malta’s progress towards having a genuinely professional and independent public prosecutor will be”.

While telling this newsroom that the Opposition has consistently called for her resignation and accused her of “shamelessly serving as a pawn in the hands of Prime Minister Robert Abela and Minister Jonathan Attard”, Aquilina said that the PN does not rule out the possibility of filing a motion for Buttigieg’s impeachment “at the most opportune time and within the extremely limited parliamentary schedule” allocated to them.

Following the recent judicial reform, Malta’s AG (aside from filing in their resignation) can be forced to vacate their post by the President of Malta following a successful parliamentary vote via two-thirds majority.

No such motion has yet been presented to Parliament in spite of the near dozen public calls since her appointment in September 2020.