Gaffarena wants judiciary watchdog to investigate Attorney General

Mark Gaffarena and his wife Josielle have requested the Commission for the Administration of Justice to investigate Attorney General Peter Grech, lawyer Victoria Buttigieg and lawyer Christian Falzon Scerri for an alleged breach of the Code of Ethics and Conduct for lawyers, citing unspecified “conflicts of interest”.

On Tuesday morning, the couple filed a sworn declaration in the acts of the case against them, instituted by the Prime Minister, informing the court that they had made a complaint to the Commission for the Administration of Justice about comments which the Attorney General gave to the Malta Independent on Sunday regarding the case.

The Attorney-General told the newspaper that his office was representing both the himself and the Prime Minister in his capacity as an MP, in an action which is filed jointly. The action is granted to any MP and to the Attorney General under Article 4 of the Disposal of Government Land Act. “It is by no means a private action but an action that is filed in the public interest by a Member of the House to impugn a transfer of government land not made in accordance with the Disposal of Government Land Act,” Grech said.

Grech denied any conflict of interest apparent in the case since the Commissioner for Lands, as the entity that transferred the lands, was a defendant in the case.

In a separate application in the same case, also filed this morning, the Gaffarenas claimed that the Prime Minister could not legally attack the contract of exchange which he himself authorised, as minister ultimately responsible for the lands portfolio.

The Prime Minister instituted the case, in his own right as an MP, in a bid to prevent the transfer of government lands transferred to the Gaffarenas on the controversial €1.65 million expropriation of their 50% share of an Old Mint Street palazzo that houses government offices.

The Commissioner of Lands is listed as one of the defendants in the case, the application reads, before pointing out that according to a notification in the Government Gazette, published in March 2013, the OPM had taken over responsibility for the Lands department. “It is clear from the law that at the time of entering into the contract of exchange, the Commissioner of lands was under the direction of the minister, in this case, the Prime Minister,” the application contends. Therefore, a contract of exchange “could only happen with the authorisation of the Prime Minister.”

“The Prime Minister cannot request the cancellation of an act for which he is also legally responsible,” the application reads.

Lawyer Keith Bonnici signed both applications.