Justice Minister Jonathan Attard is not willing to say whether the Attorney General should be present in court sittings related to the Vitals inquiry.
AG Victoria Buttigieg has been harshly criticised for not supporting her team of prosecutors with her presence in the two court cases instituted against a number of persons and companies following the conclusion of the inquiry into the hospitals’ deal. In both marathon sittings held last week, Buttigieg never stepped in the courtroom during hearings which collectively lasted more than 20 hours.
Attard, on the other hand, has criticised the prosecution for requesting - during one of the sittings - that the accused do not speak to the media about the cases, effectively expressing himself against the office which falls under his remit. Yet, when asked to give an opinion on the AG’s absence from the courtroom, he would not say whether he agreed or not because he believes that politicians should not interfere.
A politician should not intervene in these kind of procedures, he said when asked on Monday. After all, the office has a team of prosecutors that are carrying out their work with respect towards their constitutional function, he said.
He denied that through his comments about the gagging order he was protecting former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and going against the AG’s office. "What I said was that the prosecution’s request for a gagging order was disproportionate in the context of an inquiry that took more than four years to complete, during which there had also been leaks," he said.
Speaking after presiding over the signing of a collective agreement for the office of the State Advocate, Attard was asked if his expressed opinion on the prosecution in the Vitals case was proportionate, to which he said he expresses himself in a balanced way when he sees situations which could disturb the rule of law, as well as the public’s confidence in the country’s justice system.
He said that his message was not a threatening one, as opposed to that of the PN, who resorted to legal threats, where it is seeking the country’s institutions legally.
“They are intimidating the country’s institutions in a systemic way, not just the AG, or the Police Commissioner, but also the courts,” Attard said, adding that the PN has consistently attacked magistrates who it did not agree with.
“That is the a la carte rule of law that the Opposition believes in. When it talks, it is freedom of expression, but when a government official or a Minister speaks in a balanced manner, that is considered an attack,” Attard said, adding that the public will judge on this.
Attard said he has faith in the country’s institutions, and such comments disturb the trust in institutions. He continued that the judicial process should be left to continue, and the facts must emerge from the Courts, and not from enquiring the Justice Minister on the procedure.
Asked if he is comfortable with the endorsements Muscat has been giving to Labour MEP candidates, Attard said that Muscat is simply sharing his views on a number of candidates with have the potential to become MEP, and it is in his liberty to make such endorsements, as it is in the liberty of the candidates to seek endorsements which could convince the electorate to vote for them.