Chief Justice reverses decree to reassign Pilatus Bank challenge case

A decree reassigning the Pilatus Bank challenge case to Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit has been reversed by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti.

The challenge case against the Police Commissioner was filed by Repubblika in July, accusing the police of not prosecuting Pilatus Bank officials despite the conclusions of a magisterial inquiry.

The case was originally assigned to Magistrate Nadine Lia. Repubblika had asked that she recuse herself in view of her family ties to lawyer Pawlu Lia, who was Joseph Muscat's lawyer. The magistrate had refused to do so, which led to the filing of a constitutional case asking for her to be removed from the case. An interim measure had been granted, ordering the magistrate to desist from continuing presiding over the case. Then Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit was assigned the case on 14 November.

But now the Chief Justice has issued a directive. The Chief Justice's directive referred to a decree by the Constitutional Court on 11 November in the case of Repubblika vs the State Advocate, where the court ordered the suspension of the decree given by the First Hall of the Courts for the case to be assigned to a new magistrate, as the assignment had not been formally concluded.

It read that due to an administrative error on 14 November 2022, an order assigning the case to Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit was signed, despite the decree by the Constitutional Court on 11 November.

The Chief Justice revoked the 14 November assignment to Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit to leave the issue of reassignment unprejudiced until a final decision is delivered by the Constitutional Court.

President of Repubblika Robert Aquilina said on Tuesday that lawyer Jason Azzopardi was informed by the office of Stafrace Zammit that the case shall not proceed on Wednesday morning. Aquilina was informed that there was a mistake when appointing her, but Repubblika was not given any further information, he said.

Aquilina found it very strange that Repubblika was kept completely in the dark. He said that it might have been an appeal filed by the police, however, he said he cannot know for sure. He condemned these actions, saying they took place behind Repubblika's back.

Whatever took place, Repubblika is insisting that it gets access to all the documents that have led up to this decision.

"It is evident that the Police Commissioner and the State Attorney dreamed of another setback in order to obstruct the wheels of justice in the Pilatus Bank case," Aquilina said.