Attorney General refuses to publish inquiry into alleged passport sale kickbacks to Keith Schembri

Updated at 4:45pm with AG letter

Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg will not be publishing any part of the inquiry into allegations of corruption carried out by former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri and Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna.

Buttigieg informed lawyer Jason Azzopardi, who is representing former opposition leader Simon Busuttil, that the inquiry has been concluded but "at this stage" after examining the findings, she will not be releasing any part of the inquiry.

The AG's letter confirming that the inquiry has concluded and that no part of it will be published at this stage

Azzopardi published Buttigieg's response to an earlier request made by Busuttil to be given a copy of the inquiry.

The inquiry was requested by former opposition leader Simon Busuttil in April 2017 and concerned allegations that Schembri took kickbacks from the sale of passports.

Publication of the inquiry is not automatic and depends on the Attorney General's decision.

Busuttil’s lawyer, Jason Azzopardi, said in a Facebook post on Monday morning that it was only by chance that they got to know the inquiry was concluded a few days ago.

Writing on behalf of his client, Azzopardi asked the AG to hand over a copy of the inquiring magistrate’s findings to Busuttil, as the person who initiated the probe.

The case concerned allegations that Schembri had received kickbacks in the form of two payments of €50,000 each from Tonna from the sale of citizenship to a family of three Russians.

Schembri had claimed the funds transferred to him by Tonna were repayment of a personal loan he had given him a few years back. The payments were made to Schembri's account at Pilatus Bank.

Busuttil had taken the allegations to the magistrate investigating the Egrant claims but a decision was made to initiate a separate inquiry.

“We expect that the AG, as he had done with Joseph Muscat on the Egrant case, immediately give a copy of the inquiry report to Simon Busuttil, the person who asked for the investigation,” Azzopardi said earlier today.

In the case of the Egrant inquiry, the conclusions were published immediately but access to the full report was only possible after Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia took the matter to court. The court had ordered the AG to give Delia, as Opposition leader, a full copy of the Egrant inquiry, which he then published.

It remains to be seen whether the AG will eventually publish the Schembri-Tonna inquiry, or its conclusions.

PN asks for immediate publication

The Nationalist Party has called for the immediate publication of the inquiry, asking the new Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg to release the report in full without redactions.

Good governance spokesperson Karol Aquilina said the AG should avoid the "scandalous" way in which her predecessor behaved when he refused to publish the Egrant inquiry report in full.