Former Judge who leads independent inquiries hits out at rule of law MEPs
A former judge who often leads independent inquiries, Philip Sciberras, has written a stronglyworded comment on Facebook against MEPs who came to Malta and criticised the rule of law.
He accused the MEPs of “spreading the bitterness in their stomachs” and “fanning the flames of division and hatred” by using the “flimsy excuse of the rule of law being lacking”.
Sciberras used to be a PL MP for two years between 1979 and 1981, after which he was not elected in two consecutive elections. He was eventually appointed to the position of magistrate, and promoted judge in 2002. He then retired and has often been used by the Labour government to lead independent inquiries and investigations.
Last Friday, Socialist and Democrat MEP Ana Gomes, Greens MEP Sven Giegold and European People’s Party MEP David Casa were in Malta meeting with the major political parties, stakeholders and NGOs as a follow-up to their last visit when they were on a fact finding mission about the rule of law in Malta.
They produced a report last January based on their visit and issued a number of recommendations. Their initial meeting was spurred by the grisly murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, which had followed issues such as the Panama Papers scandal with the main protagonists still being in power, and the mounting concerns about the PL government’s cash-for-passport scheme.
A consortium of journalists calling themselves the Daphne Project released more stories over the past few weeks, producing documentation that contradict statements made by Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri, and other troubling reports.
The MEPs said the lack of parliamentary response, investigative steps or any form of action prompted them to return to Malta to inquire and receive feedback.
At a press conference following the day of meetings, the MEPs said they were more concerned than before about the rule of law and could not understand how the magistrate leading the murder inquiry of Caruana Galizia was to be promoted while still working the case. They were disturbed to learn that magistrates investigating high profile corruption are burdened with lots of other cases, could not understand how a country with a huge financial services economy has such little money laundering court cases and raised concerns about the implementation about many pertinent laws.
This evidently did not sit well with the Labour-linked former judge, who took to social media to say:
“The foreigners who vacation among us are always welcome. We greet them and are happy to see them. Greetings are also extended to those foreigners who work on this land and through their work help so that the wheel of progress does not stop turning. Welcome are those foreigners who live amongst us.
“When they are not invited however, those who come to us with lots of questions constructed through jealousy, spreading the bitterness in their stomachs and fan the flames of division and hatred with the flimsy excuse of the rule of law being in jeopardy, these, who are so full of themselves, do not deserve to be welcomed.
“Their cheating and threats run contrary to seeking the truth. It would be better for them to mind their own business instead of foraging for harm in our land and they should find the medicine to fix what is wrong in their own country.”