PN leader tells Attorney General to give Opposition access to Vitals inquiry

Opposition leader Bernard Grech filed a judicial protest against the Attorney General, saying the Office will be held responsible for any damages suffered for failing to pass on a copy of the magisterial inquiry that have led to criminal charges against former prime minister Joseph Muscat.

Muscat is accused of having acted in collusion and deceit with principals from the Vitals and Steward companies that ran a concession to operate three state hospitals, and is now charged with money laundering offences.

Grech accused AG Victoria Grech of having passed on a copy of the inquiry report to Prime Minister Robert Abela, and protested the ‘imbalance’ in being “deprived of the necessary tools to perform his constitutional role of overseeing the executive, creating a serious political imbalance in favour of the government and the Labour Party to the detriment of the Opposition and the Nationalist Party, and the right of the citizens to know how and what led the highest officials in the Maltese government to defraud them and misappropriate their property to the extent that they are also accused of money laundering.”

On 6 May, Grech requested a copy of the inquiry in its entirety, claiming the Attorney General had already passed on a copy of the inquiry report to the Prime Minister and the Members of the Cabinet of Ministers.

“You have yet to respond to the request of the Leader of the Opposition and much less provide a copy of the inquiry report to the Leader of the Opposition despite the importance and gravity of this inquiry,” Grech’s lawyer, Edward Debono, said.

“Since this magisterial inquiry raises issues of public interest, to the detriment of the State, you are being urged to pass a copy of the report of the inquiry to the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Nationalist Party while you, at your discretion, can publish it through the Department of Information as you have done on other occasions.”