Repubblika Honorary President Robert Aquilina said on Tuesday that the NGO's request for the courts to order Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa to charge people involved with Pilatus Bank has been rejected.

Repbblika had instituted challenge proceedings in a bid to obtain a court judgement that would order the Commissioner of Police to press charges against a number of senior officials at the bank.

The challenge was rejected by Magistrate Nadine Lia on Tuesday morning, Aquilina said, adding that the NGO will be appealing the decision as it "absolutely disagrees with it."

"Magistrate Lia said that not enough evidence was tabled for the case to be proven at a prime facie level," Aquilina wrote on his Facebook page as he announced the news.

"This when we presented the full magisterial inquiry, filled with evidence, that in his conclusions the magistrate who led the inquiry ordered a number of individuals to be charged with extremely serious criminal offences which did enormous damage to our country," Aquilina said.

Aquilina himself had published details from the magisterial inquiry in a book in 2023.  Those that the inquiring magistrate Ian Farrugia said should face charges included the owner and director of the defunct bank, Ali Sadr Hasheminejad; its director, Hamidreza Ghanbari; CEO Mehmet Taşlı, Chief Information Officer Luis Felipe Riviera, MLRO Claude-Anne Sant Fournier, as well as accounting officer, acting MLRO and risk manager Antoniella Gauci.

"We knew and said from the start that we would be facing an uphill struggle and that the winds against us were big.  But for the good of the country, we are going to continue this fight to the end," Aquilina said.

The notary said that the NGO expects to receive the full sentence later in the day which will allow them to prepare an appeal.

He thanked former PN MP and lawyer Jason Azzopardi for his assistance throughout the case.