Power to appoint public inquiry, choose members lies with the PM – former law faculty dean
The law on public inquiries says that it is the Prime Minister’s responsibility to appoint a public inquiry and to appoint its members, irrespective of whether he might have a conflict of interest in the case, a former Dean of the Faculty of Law has told this newspaper.
Last Friday, PM Joseph Muscat announced that retired judge Michael Mallia would lead a three-member, 9-month inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The inquiry will seek to establish whether the government could have done something to prevent the 16 October 2017 murder. The other two members are constitutional lawyer Ian Refalo and forensic expert Anthony Abela Medici.
The Caruana Galizia family expressed concerns about the composition of the inquiry and asked to meet the Prime Minister to discuss these concerns.
Civil society NGOs also questioned the suitability of the board, and insisted that the family should have been consulted.
When asked about the Inquiries Act, Professor Kevin Bonello said the law was very clear. It states that inquiries are appointed by the Prime Minister or, in some cases, by a minister.
Asked about comments to the effect that the Prime Minister should not have appointed the inquiry since he has a conflict of interest, Aquilina reiterated that the law only gives this power to the PM.
The decision as to whether the family is consulted is also up to the Prime Minister, Aquilina added.
The government had been facing calls by the Council of Europe to launch a public inquiry, and the deadline was set to expire on Thursday this week. The government had been saying that it was in talks with the CoE to ensure that any inquiry would not prejudice the ongoing criminal proceedings against the suspects in the murder.
The Prime Minister had requested that the Public Inquiry is to be concluded within nine months and published as directed by the same Commission. The Commission will regulate its own procedure.
Family Meeting
Prime Minister Muscat will be meeting with the Caruana Galizia family next week, government and family sources had both confirmed.
The week’s delay is down to the fact that the prime minister is due at the United Nations General Assembly and will not return until that week when the requested meeting will be held.
In a statement, the family said a public inquiry chaired by a respected former judge “is what all right-minded people have been calling for since our mother’s and wife’s assassination.”
However, it said that, “given the gravity of its purpose and its mandate to investigate state institutions, justice demands that the Board’s wider members have no financial or political links to the current political administration.”
“The Board will be unfit for purpose if the public has reason to doubt any of its wider members’ independence or impartiality.”
In a statement after the PM said he would meet them, the family said that, “the membership suggested by the government late last night remains unconfirmed until this consultation is over.”
Public Reactions
Council of Europe rapporteur on the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia Pieter Omtzigt warned that, “any such exercise must be fully independent, and its members’ impartiality beyond question.”
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s Legal Affairs Committee will discuss Malta’s implementation of the Assembly’s resolution as a whole when it meets during the autumn plenary session on Monday 30th September, he explained.
Opposition leader Adrian Delia yesterday appeared to echo Omtzigt’s sentiment when he said the inquiry should leave no doubts after it is concluded. He also said he has called a parliamentary group meeting to discuss the matter further, “as there is a need to provide comfort that if this investigation is going to happen, Malta needs to know the truth.”
Council of Europe SecretaryGeneral Marija Pejčinović Burić welcomed the announcement of the inquiry but said: “The Council of Europe will follow the work of the now established inquiry commission very closely and attentively.”
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organisation, also insisted on independence and impartiality, with its freedom of the media representative Harlem Désir saying that public inquiry needs to be fully independent in order to bring long-overdue justice for Caruana Galizia’s family, colleagues and Maltese society.
In a statement, Désir noted: “I have repeatedly called for an independent and effective investigation, in order for all the facts to be brought to light and for all those responsible, including all perpetrators and masterminds, to face justice.”
Separate sources speaking with this newspaper, meanwhile, suggested that former Chief Justice and current European Court of Human Rights Judge Vincent De Gaetano had originally been approached to lead the public inquiry, but he had declined because, according to sources, he felt his own impartiality could be called into question over, according to sources, ‘perceived interference’.
Although it is understood there would be nothing preventing him from taking the role, even ethically, although he is a sitting judge, he is believed to have passed on the offer because he was not comfortable with the composition of the rest of the inquiry.
Reporters Without Borders UK Bureau Director Rebecca Vincent, whose organisation has long been campaigning for the public inquiry, said: “The establishment of a public inquiry is long overdue, and is an essential step towards justice for the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. This is the result of the sustained advocacy efforts of her family and civil society groups for nearly two years.
“But a public inquiry that lacks independence and impartiality will fool no one - and the goal remains full justice for this heinous assassination. We will remain vigilant and scrutinise the composition and actions of the Board of Inquiry, and act to hold the Maltese government to account for its international obligations.”