Repubblika demands full inquiry into failure to act on European Arrest Warrant against Iosif Galea

Repubblika, an NGO which aims to protect the rule of law in Malta, has filed a judicial protest in court, demanding that the failure to arrest former MGA official Iosif Galea in Malta, despite a European Arrest Warrant having been issued against him, be the subject of a proper inquiry and not simply an internal investigation.

The NGO called for an inquiry which was not only clearly and visibly independent, but which also had the “effective power to access, inspect and verify documentation” which those persons allegedly involved in maladministration “would rather the inquiry didn’t have access to.”/

The judicial protest, addressed to the Prime Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality, was filed this morning by lawyer Jason Azzopardi on behalf of Repubblika.

It comes 24 hours after the case against MGA official Jason Farrugia, charged with money laundering, started being heard in court. Farrugia received thousands of euros from Galea.

Malta only issued its EAW against Iosif Galea after news broke that he had been arrested in Italy on the strength of an EAW issued by the German authorities, and which Malta had ignored.

At the time of his arrest, Galea was on holidary in Italy with disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat and his wife, among others.

In spite of the EAW issued against him by the German authorities, Galea had been allowed to travel to and from Malta freely on several occasions, the lawyer said, pointing out that the Maltese authorities had almost certainly been notified about the warrant and was sent a copy by Germany as soon as it was issued.

The NGO goes on to cite reports in the Times of Malta, in which police sources are quoted as indicating that the Maltese police had been fully aware of the fact that Galea was wanted in Germany, but was going to do nothing about it or restrict his travels.

Galea lives close to the Siggiewi police station, reads the court document, with Repubblika arguing that this led it to believe that the police were “more than just aware” of his movements in the months since the German EAW had been issued.

Minister Byron Camilleri, who is responsible for Home Affairs and Security, had told Parliament on May 30 that the Commissioner of Police had informed him that the matter was the subject of an internal investigation.

In a subsequent report on the Times, it was revealed that the internal investigation was being carried out by the “Independent  Police Complaints Board”, chaired by retired judge Franco Depasquale and composed of Michael Cassar, Reuben Lanfranco, with John Spiteri as  Secretary. The board had been appointed under the Police Act and its tenure is due to last till December 2024.

“It is true that the Board has the function of ‘investigating and reporting swiftly every matter regarding the behaviour of the Corps’, but it is also true that the law does not permit, rather it prohibits, the Board from ‘ever inspecting or requesting the exhibition of any document exempted…under the Court of Organisation and Civil Procedure, and neither does it require that any police officer provide all the information found in such a document,” reads the protest.

This prohibition, Repubblika points out, limits the Boards awareness of the facts to those facts which the Government is not entitled to refuse questions about, under the Freedom of Information Act. The Board would therefore be deprived of information which is essential in establishing the facts of the case.

Quoting directly from the law, the judicial protest points out that the Board, can never inspect a document which,, if revealed, could ‘reasonably be expected to harm Malta’s international relations,’ in a case where the Maltese police are alleged to have acted in such a way to undermine the interests of the German tax authorities.  

The same law would also prohibit the Board from access to the documentation supporting the EAW issued by Germany, which lies at the heart of the issue. Neither can it inspect any documents which, if revealed, could be expected to have a negative impact on an investigation into a possible breach of the law, “which is something which the subject of the arrest warrant at issue is entirely expected to allege in his interests.”

These limitations would make it impossible for the Board to establish all the facts and make valid recommendations, including possible criminal charges.

The NGO went on to accuse the police of acting to protect the person suspected of grave offences instead of taking action against him according to law, adding that the circumstances of his arrest raised the suspicion that Galea believed himself to be enjoying impunity by dint of his connections and friendships.

The judicial protest also states that Galea had a “long history” of cropping up in allegations of criminal activity involving powerful politicians, pointing to the bribery investigation involving John Dalli, in which a witness had claimed to have been threatened by Galea.

Repubblika argues that Gafa’ had been involved in the police investigation into Dalli’s affairs, adding that Dalli was subsequently publicly rehabilitated and appointed as a government consultant by Joseph Muscat and that the 2012 decision to arraign Dalli was only carried out in 2021.

In both the Galea and Dalli cases, the public had a right to be kept informed of what action was being taken with regards to public officials accused of corruption or criminal activity.

This so-called “culture of impunity” had also been flagged by the Public Inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia as aided organised crime, and which had observed that the Commissioner of Police at the time and other high ranking officials had been inactive in the face of their duty to investigate allegations made against high ranking figures in the administration and well-connected businessmen.”

The judicial protest points to the fact that there is no obligation to publish the internal investigation set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is only to be disseminated to the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police, should there be grounds for prosecution. “This after the same Attorney General and Commissioner of Police have been waiting for the past 14 months to arrange a number of people after the conclusion of the magisterial inquiry into Pilatus Bank…”

Only an inquiry established under the Inquiries Act could establish whether the Maltese Police had requested an EAW against Iosif Galea a year after one was issued against him by Germany, “in order to avoid Iosif Galea disclosing information he is said to have about politically exposed persons, in particular about money laundering and bribery concerning those same persons.”

The judicial protest ends with a demand that a Board of Inquiry be set up and given a mandatory time frame of no more than 15 days to complete its investigation, the full and uncensored report on which must be tabled in parliament within 24 hours of its completion.

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