Lawyer Jason Azzopardi's request for a magisterial inquiry into certain deals by the Lands Authority has been rejected by the Duty Magistrate due to a lack of material and concrete evidence that could link a crime to an individual, the lawyer said in a social media post on Wednesday.
Azzopardi had requested a magisterial inquiry, concerning the Lands Authority CEO, Robert Vella, regarding several transfers of public land to the private sector. In his inquiry request, Azzopardi had referred to many news articles regarding land transfers, among others mentioning Mellieha heights, where open space was transferred to developer Paul Attard despite there being strong opposition to its development. He also made reference to the Villa Rosa project, where developer Anton Camilleri bought a public alley in St George's Bay reportedly for just €134,000. Another of the articles dealt with 250 square metres of public land in Gozo being transferred.
In his post on Tuesday, Azzopardi, a former PN MP, said that he never had a guarantee that every request would be accepted due to the very high level of proof that a citizen must meet for the request to be accepted. He commented that a citizen does not always have the tools in hand to collect the material evidence, and so "the police will ignore it on purpose".
He added that this rejected request was one out of five applications which he presented a month ago.
The lawyer remarked that this decision has sent a clear message that there is no need to change the law regarding how citizens can request magisterial inquiries.
Prime Minister Robert Abela has been pushing for a reform of magisterial inquiries, and said the government wants to amend the law to prevent abuse.
"This decision confirms, if there was ever a need, how hard and difficult the degree of proof is for a citizen who is not an investigator to reach to satisfy what the law demands. This decision confirms that there are checks and balances that work in the same law that the government wants to change," Azzopardi stated.