Degiorgio brothers ile constitutional case over refusal of presidential pardon
Alfred and George Degiorgio have filed a constitutional case against the Maltese government and the President of the Republic after their request for a presidential pardon fell on deaf ears.
The two brothers are accused of having executed the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia by car bomb, on 16 October 2017.
Another person, Vince Muscat ‘ilKoħħu’, has pleaded guilty in return for a reduced 15-year sentence and information that led to the arraignment of alleged bomb-makers Adrian and Robert Agius ‘tal-Maksar’, and associate Jamie Vella.
The Degiorgios asked the Court to recognise that the Cabinet had abused of its power when it refused them a pardon.
They also requested as witnesses former Economy Minister Chris Cardona, who has been implicated by the alleged hitmen as being part of an earlier plot to kill Caruana Galizia, and current minister Carmelo Abela, on whom allegations have surfaced relating to a failed HSBC heist in 2010.
Both Cardona and Abela have vehemently denied their alleged respective involvements.
The Degiorgios explicitly suggested that the government is sitting on their pardon requests because the information they have connects the murder to a “former government minister” who they say was a mastermind.
Their lawyer, William Cuschieri said that his clients received no communication on their request, before learning in the press that the President had been advised by the Cabinet not to accept the pardon request.
“On the contrary, in the pardon requests for Melvin Theuma and Vincent Muscat, these people were given a hearing,” Cuschieri said.
Muscat’s pardon was related to the murder of lawyer Carmel Chircop, where he told police that the murder was carried out by Jamie Vella at the behest of Adrian Agius.
Cuschieri said the presentation given to Cabinet by the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General was administratively abusive, given that his clients were not given a hearing as expected, to justify the information they have.
The lawyer also said it “made no sense” for the AG and Commissioner of Police to advise against the pardon without giving them some form of fair hearing; “the Cabinet rested on advice delivered to them in abstract fashion... neither does it make sense for the President to rest on such a recommendation.”
Cuschieri said the pardon’s denial presented “a conflict of interest” for the government, which the lawyer said wants the Degiorgios to be found guilty of their crimes without hearing what they have to say; and because of their direct information to what they know.
“So it is anomalous and conflicting that the request for a pardon is considered by this same Cabinet of ministers when the pardon itself deals with one of their present and also former colleagues.”