In less than a day, 450 people have signed a parliamentary petition put forward by the Momentum party on magisterial inquiries, Arnold Cassola said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Maltese citizens are sending a strong message to Prime Minister Robert Abela", Cassola stated. "Just do the right thing, Mr Prime Minister."

The Chairman of Momentum said that on 15 December 2024, the Prime Minister ordered the Minister for Justice to reform the current system of magisterial inquiries so that citizens would not be able to abuse the system. Cassola remarked that this order by the Prime Minister "constitutes a danger to democracy in Malta".

The Prime Minister has said that the government does not want to remove inquiries, but wants to prevent the abuse of magisterial inquiries. He has also said that the reform is intended to eliminate abuse and protect honest people against attacks.

Cassola continued that Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa "has refused to investigate cases of very questionable conduct on the part of politicians several times in the last four and a half years". With that in mind, Cassola said that magisterial inquiries are the only means that the common citizen has to request investigations into alleged bad behaviour conducted by politicians.

The petition filed by Momentum requests that the parliament does not accept amendments to the law on magisterial inquiries.

"We are asking all the Honourable members of this Parliament not to amend this law and to leave it as it is because otherwise, they would be making it more difficult for the citizens to have access to justice," Cassola concluded.