Vitals: State Advocate must act in interest of the country and ensure Malta gets its €400 million back, PN argues in court

The State Advocate must act in the public interest and ensure Malta recoups the €400 million paid to the hospitals concession, the Nationalist Party has argued in court.

“It is true that the State Advocate should not be under anyone’s heel, but he must be obliged to act,” lawyer representing the Nationalist Party in court Edward Debono argued on Monday.  

The argument was put forward by lawyers representing the Nationalist Party (PN) in its appeal following a court ruling that denied its request for the State Advocate to seek the return of €400 million paid by the government to private hospital to recover defrauded funds from the corrupt hospitals’ deal.

Edward Debono questioned why the AG protected the State Advocate if it wanted it to be impartial and not under the heel of the Government of the day.

In a previous judgment, Judge Toni Abela ruled that if the court had to order the State Advocate to do something, then it would be breaching the constitution. Abela ruled that it was not the court’s competence to tell the State Advocate what to do.

Present for proceedings on Monday were Prime Minister Robert Abela, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, Opposition leader Bernard Grech and Nationalist Party Secretary General Michael Piccinino.

“It is in the interest of the nation that the State Advocate should not hide under the excuse that it is the advocate of the government. The nation must be awarded all the damages that it has borne because of the great deficiencies that were caused by certain people, rather than safeguarding the interest of the country,” Debono told the court.

State Advocate Chris Soler on the other hand defended his actions, saying it is in the interest of the state that he follows the law.

“If the law says that the State Advocate may or may not do something, then it would be against the public interest that the State Advocate does not follow the law and assumes power whenever she wants,” Soler argued in court.

Proceedings are ongoing, and a sentence will be given at a later date.