Karol Aquilina asks for review of Speaker's ‘inadmissible’ Egrant report ruling

Karol Aquilina has filed a motion in Parliament asking for Speaker Anglu Farrugia’s ruling, that a request for the tabling of the full Egrant report is ‘inadmissible’, to be reviewed.

On Tuesday, the Speaker had formally ruled that questions by the Nationalist Party MP to the Prime Minister - where he asked for the complete Egrant inquiry to be presented to Parliament, as well as for a list of all those who had access to the full report - could not be accepted.

In his motion, Aquilina is asking that the ruling be revisited, and that a report on this be drawn up in Parliament in accordance with the stipulations in the House's standing orders.

In a statement, Aquilina said there was “no doubt” that the report on Magistrate Aaron Bugeja’s Egrant inquiry classified as a matter of public interest.

The inquiry had been requested by the Prime Minister, Aquilina noted, and its procès-verbal (the full report) was given to Joseph Muscat by the Attorney General, by virtue of the constitutional position he occupied, which the AG referred to as “the highest executive role in the country”.

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Speaker rules ‘inadmissible’ PN MP’s request for Prime Minister to table full Egrant report

“It therefore makes no sense that - by arguing that Joseph Muscat’s involvement was personal in nature and related to his rights as a private citizen - an MP be prevented by the Speaker of the House from asking questions to the Prime Minister about the Egrant inquiry,” Aquilina said.

It went on to highlight that, in a strong democracy, the rights and duties of all MPs to ask parliamentary questions in the quest for truth, and to hold the Prime Minister and ministers accountable for their actions, had to be safeguarded.

“For these reasons, I can never agree with the Speaker’s ruling, and therefore, by way of the motion I filed this morning, I am requesting that Parliament reviews the ruling, and that, in accordance with its standing orders, it draws up a report and notes it in the minutes of of the House’s procedures,” Aquilina added.