Jason Azzopardi questions how Silvio Schembri knew Ivan Camilleri was author of unsigned articles

Jason Azzopardi has raised suspicion on how lands minister Silvio Schembri knew that journalist Ivan Camilleri was the author of unsigned articles that were used to request a magisterial inquiry about alleged wrongdoing by Schembri.

Azzopardi raised these suspicions in an appeal he filed in response to a magistrate’s decision to turn down his request for an inquiry into Schembri’s possible unexplained wealth. 

Earlier this week, magistrate Antoine Agius Bonnici had taken note of a number of statements made by Schembri, as well as a document signed by Ivan Camilleri, as a journalist for The Shift News, in which the latter declared that he had stopped writing about the minister because he had been satisfied by the explanations given to him. 

Ivan Camilleri is a former Times of Malta journalist who was sacked for, among other reasons, tipping off Daphne Caruana Galizia murder suspect Yorgen Fenech of his impending arrest. Camilleri lost two libel cases against MaltaToday and Illum in relation to his tip-off.

In his appeal, Azzopardi stated that he was baffled at how Schembri knew that Camilleri was the author of the unsigned articles, given that the latter was never publicly tied to the news outlet. 

Azzopardi further questioned the timing of Camilleri’s statement, as he noted that the statement was only made after the request for a magisterial inquiry was made, despite the articles remaining unchanged. He asked whether Camilleri was the one who approached Schembri to give him the signed document after the former had learned of the magisterial inquiry request.

“Why wasn’t the editor of the news portal the one to make the declaration?” Azzopardi asked, questioning whether the declaration was made behind the editor’s back.

The appeal filed by the former PN MP also focused on other aspects behind the court’s refusal to open an investigation into Silvio Schembri.

He argued that the court had expected Azzopardi to present evidence that a private citizen could not possibly get his hands on, and that this goes against the procedure for private citizens requesting a magisterial inquiry.

Azzopardi stated that other requests were granted by the courts based on media reports, listing examples such as the Vitals inquiry and the 17 Black inquiry. He further argued that the magistrate improperly required him to prove guilt rather than demonstrate a prima facie case.

Additionally, Azzopardi pointed out government’s proposed reform that would change the way magisterial inquiries are requested by citizens. He suggests that a particular clause in the bill was included solely for the request involving Silvio Schembri, as Azzopardi urged the court to apply the law as it currently stands.

READ ALSO: Inquiry reform forces citizens to file police report first

The clause in question states that the proposed amendment should apply to any request for inquiry made before 1 January 2025 if the courts did not act on the request by the aforementioned date.