Court set to rule whether Speaker’s ruling is in breach of human rights

The Constitutional Court will be deciding on whether a Speaker’s ruling was in breach of human rights after the same court asserted it was competent to decide on whether rulings by the Speaker of the House are in breach of human rights.

Judge Joseph Zammit Mc Keon ruled that parliament could regulate its proceedings insofar as they did not breach the Constitution.

The ruling was given in a case filed by former Enemalta consultant Frank Sammut as well as in another, separate case, filed by the chairman of Cassar Ship Repair, Anthony Cassar and Francis Portelli, a director of Virtu Ferries Limited.

The constitutional court was filed against Speaker Anglu Farrugia and Jason Azzopardi, as PAC temporary chairman.

Both cases dealt with a ruling by Speaker Anglu Farrugia who had ruled that the individuals could not shun the Public Accounts Committee hearings on the Enemalta oil scandal.

The Speaker had ruled that the witnesses summoned by the PAC “must answer the committees’ questions” and choose to remain silent over any questions that they feel could incriminate them. The Speaker’s ruling also said that, where disagreement on what constitutes an incriminating question arose, this would be referred to the Speaker who would then rule on the matter.

But Frank Sammut’s lawyer, Joe Giglio, argued that it was not up to the Speaker to determine what constituted an incriminating question and that the client had the right to remain silent.

In their objections, the defendants claimed that the courts lacked jurisdiction to decide on rulings by the Speaker, or on the content of guidelines, because the Constitution gave Parliament the authority to regulate itself.

The Judge argued that the provision of the Constitution in question went on to stipulate that parliament should not act in breach of the Constitution.

This ruling means the Constitutional Court will continue hearing the plaintiff’s case and determine whether the Speaker’s ruling was in breach of a person’s right to remain silent.