Judge abstains from hearing appeal filed by three ministers

Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera is abstaining from hearing the urgent case filed by three ministers because her brother is also a minister.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and Economy Minister Chris Cardona had filed an urgent appeal following a decree by Magistrate Doreen Clarke which cleared the way for a criminal inquiry to be held into their part in the Vitals Global Healthcare deal.

Scerri Herrera was assigned to hear the appeal filed by the three ministers against the magistrate’s ruling.

The VGH deal falls under the collective responsibility of the Cabinet, of which the judge’s brother, Jose Herrera, forms part as environment minister.

Magistrate Clarke had found that the evidence surrounding the conduct of the ministers in the sale of the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo state hospitals, was to refer the matter to another magistrate currently investigating Ivan Vassallo, who owns hospital supply company Technoline. The appeal was filed two days after the decree was handed down. In it, the ministers ask the Criminal Court to revoke the magistrate’s decree on several grounds.

The ministers argued that by sending the matter to another magistrate, Magistrate Clarke had exceeded the parameters of the original application by NGO Repubblika which, they said, had only asked the magistrate to decide on whether there were grounds for an inquiry. Secondly, they said, the application was identical to a previous one filed by the group, involving the same parties and subject matter, which had been dismissed by Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti in October. The appellants claimed that Repubblika’s intention was clearly to file as many appeals as necessary until it obtained the outcome it wanted.