Attorney General blasts ‘hostility’ from Opposition leader who calls him criminal accomplice

Attorney General Peter Grech has taken exception at language employed by Opposition leader Adrian Delia after he accused him of being “an accomplice with a criminal group that has hijacked the country.”

The statement was made on Sunday with reference to a pending court case now adjourned for judgment on Monday, concerning the request by the leader of the Opposition to be given a copy of the full Egrant magisterial inquiry report, a request which was unsuccessful before the court of first instance.

“The level of hostility of such language is totally inappropriate in civilized debate, let alone when referring to the subject matter of a pending court case,” Grech said in a statement from his office.

Outgoing prime minister Joseph Muscat had previously said he would have the Egrant magisterial inquiry report published in full, after filing a report to have the allegations by the late journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia investigated. The inquiry had found that alleged evidence claiming the secret Panamanian company was owned by Muscat’s spouse could not be proved and that media personnel who claimed they had evidence, had supplied documents whose veracity could not be proven.

“The case is pending before the Constitutional Court and is about the Attorney General’s decision to publish the main conclusions of the Egrant inquiry, but not to publish the entire report for the purpose of protecting the integrity of ongoing investigations and the confidentiality of personal and banking information of third parties mentioned in the report,” Grech said.

“The leader of the Opposition appears to consider it appropriate to discuss pending court cases in public statements or at public meetings and in this case to revile the other party to the dispute as a criminal.”

On Sunday, Delia claimed that institutions like the AG’s office had “covered for big business and dirty money”, and said the PN wanted the AG to be elected by two-thirds of the House of Representatives.

“The first step is to remove all those who took over the government and did irreparable damage to our country. The second step is to reform the Nationalist Party. We are presenting a blueprint for a country that has the tools to move forward with conviction that what happened to Malta in recent years would never happen again,” Delia said of a set of proposals intending at improving good governance in the country.