[WATCH] Abela vows to protect under-fire ministers: 'They have to pass over my dead body'

Robert Abela insisted that the magisterial inquiries reform is essential to prevent 'abuse of justice,' while he lashed out against 'forces of darkness', 'fake news blogs', and 'hypocrites'

“They have to pass over my dead body. I will not let them destroy my ministers” (Photo: James Bianchi: MaltaToday)
“They have to pass over my dead body. I will not let them destroy my ministers” (Photo: James Bianchi: MaltaToday)

Prime Minister Robert Abela has lashed out against what he called “forces of darkness”, “fake news blogs”, and “hypocrites” as he defended the rushed tabling of an amendment that would change the way magisterial inquiries are initiated. 

On Tuesday, justice minister Jonathan Attard tabled the amendment for its first reading, but no details have yet been published. This came only a few weeks after Abela had tasked the justice minister with drafting a reform of the law that regulates magisterial inquiries.

On Wednesday, MaltaToday noted that while this amendment had seemingly been finished in record time, other reforms are still stuck in limbo. For instance, in May 2023, Abela had promised to reform the appeals law to prevent developers from going ahead with construction projects that are subject to appeals in court.

Abela’s government is also nowhere near the introduction of a lobbying register that was supposed to be concluded last year, while journalists are still waiting for a White Paper for public consultation on reforms for the media.

When confronted with this, Abela listed a number of reforms undertaken by the Labour government years ago. 

On the long-awaited construction appeal reform, Abela explained that this is still in the pipeline because “there are different stakeholders with different expectations.” He said that government wants to protect against “frivolous appeals.”

Abela did not reply when asked who was consulted before the drafting of the magisterial inquiries reform. Instead, he pointed at “flagrant abuse of legal tools” witnessed in the past few weeks aimed at “preventing the hand of justice from reaching who it should reach.”

He went on about “a small clique of people trying to seize institutions and terrorise them so that justice doesn’t reach them.”

He justified the rushed magisterial inquiries amendments by stating that a number of people, including ministers and civil servants who fulfilled their duty lawfully are being attacked. When told that he is speaking about people who are still subject to inquiries, Abela went on to defend them. 

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The Prime Minister said that these people are being investigated, “because there is a fake news blog, Shift News, who specialise in reporting falsehoods. 90% of what they report contain falsehoods.” Abela said that these news reports are the only thing used to open these magisterial inquiries.

Abela insisted that government “doesn’t want to kill magisterial inquiries,” but wishes to prevent “abuse” of such inquiries.

“I will totally defend the two ministers (Clint Camilleri and Silvio Schembri), their wives (who are civil servants), the permanent secretary, and the Lands Authority CEO.”

Abela went on to say, “They have to pass over my dead body. I will not let them destroy my ministers.”