Construct Furniture director wants investigation into leak that revealed responsibility for death

Lawyers for the directors of Construct Furniture have asked the courts to order a police investigation into the leak of sections of a magisterial inquiry into the death of an employee, ended up on the front page of last Sunday’s edition of The Sunday Times of Malta.

The magisterial inquiry was appointed after an accident at the factory claimed the life of 17-year-old Matthew Bartolo in 2015.

Bartolo died when he was operating a machine used to manufacture doors at Construct Furniture. The teenager got caught in the machine, which claimed his life.

The Sunday Times reported that the inquiry suspected that Bartolo’s signature may have been forged on training sheets presented by the company. The company, the inquiry reportedly found, had also failed to follow health and safety procedures.

Normally the contents of such inquiries never see the light of day, with access being restricted to the lawyers or the superior courts, but the lawyers filed the request after The Sunday Times reported that Construct Furniture’s director would be charged with the 17-year-old’s death – before the company's lawyers themselves had even been shown the report.

“The way that the conclusions of the inquiry in question were made public and broadcast on the media before the defence had been given a copy... and technically before criminal charges against any individual had even been filed, is in itself an abuse and, aside from prejudicing the defence's case could potentially create an obstacle in these proceedings to the detriment of the correct administration of justice,” the defence team argued.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Veronique Dalli, who signed the application, claimed that the leak was of “serious concern”.

While the defence “did not agree at all” with the findings of that inquiry, it said it was prepared to contest those conclusions at the correct time.

The inquiry was carried out by Magistrate Joseph Mifsud.

The lawyers want the court to order the Commissioner of Police to investigate the leak “so as to safeguard the inquiry”.