Grech and Delia condemn State Advocate over ‘pressure’ on judge to reverse recusal

Bernard Grech and Adrian Delia have accused the State Advocate of applying undue pressure on a judge who recused himself from the Steward hospitals case.

In a sworn declaration, the Opposition MPs took aim at the State Advocate’s own declaration on Tuesday that claimed the judge did not follow procedure when recusing himself.

Filed in court on Thursday by their lawyer Edward DeBono, the MPs called the State Advocate’s actions “frivolous, vexatious, abusive, illicit” and insisted they impinge on the judge’s freedom to take decisions he feels are in the best interest of justice.

The legal wrangling concerns Judge Giovanni Grixti’s decision to recuse himself from hearing the case in which Grech and Delia are asking the court to order the State Advocate to take steps to recoup the money paid to Steward as part of the hospitals contract that was rescinded.

On Monday, Grixti had to rule whether the Prime Minister and his Cabinet could be accepted as parties to the case. However, before the sitting, he informed the parties of his recusal because his partner had been appointed by the court as curator for Steward on a deed that rescinded the contract.

The State Advocate had claimed in a sworn declaration that the judge did not follow the correct procedure when recusing himself and asked for the decision to be reversed.

In their counter reply, Grech and Delia said none of the parties in a case can challenge a judge’s decision to recuse themselves, adding it is incorrect to claim he did not follow procedure.

“The State Advocate sees nothing wrong in applying pressure on a judge to continue hearing a case when in his conscious he feels he has a conflict… This decision should be respected and no moral pressure should be applied,” the MPs said, in the process condemning the State Advocate for going down that road.