PM to be asked to testify in Delia’s constitutional case on Egrant report

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be asked to testify in the constitutional case filed by PN leader Adrian Delia to obtain a full copy of the Egrant inquiry report.

So far, only the conclusions of the report have been published, exonerating the PM and his wife Michelle from the claims that they owned the Panamanian company, but the Opposition has insisted that it should be given a full copy of the report.

The first sitting in the case took place yesterday. In August, the courts had upheld a request by Delia for the case to be heard with urgency. The PN leader had argued that the AG’s refusal to provide him with a full copy of the report created an issue of constitutional significance, given the importance of the subject at hand.

AG Peter Grech had argued otherwise, insisting that the novelty and complexity of the case militated against it being treated with urgency.

The case, which is presided over by Mr Justice Robert Mangion, will continue on Wednesday, when Adrian Delia will testify. Delia’s legal team is later expected to summon the PM to testify about communication that had taken place between him and AG Peter Grech, among others.

During yesterday’s sitting, lawyer Vincent Galea, appearing for Adrian Delia, claimed that as the leader of the party in government, the PM was using the information in the inquiry report to his party’s advantage.

Reacting, the AG insisted that “this type of exercise was unprecedented, useless and without a legal basis.”

The court yesterday accepted Delia’s request for the case to be heard in its entirety rather than split into separate cases to be worked on.

Lawyers Vincent Galea, Errol Cutajar, Janice Chetcuti, and Andre Portelli are appearing for Delia.

In a statement, the PN accused the AG of trying to delay the case.

Reacting, the PL has accused Delia of being a hypocrite.

While he accused others of purposely postponing the case, the PL said, Delia himself asked the courts for 48 hours to have time to compile a list of witnesses to bring forward.

The PL drew a comparison between ex-leader Simon Busuttil and Delia, stating that the latter was politicising everything and not showing the proper respect to the constitutionally protected institutions.

Labour also pointed to the fact that when Delia had tried to suspend Busuttil, he had explained that there cannot be anything in the inquiry that would change the presented conclusions.

The PL concluded by stating that the PM is working to have the inquiry published in full, without causing any distractions for the investigation, and it hoped Delia would not hamper the process from moving forward.