Sofia inquiry: ‘Clear’ that magistrate did not request an extension – Chamber of Advocates

The Chamber of Advocates has expressed “concern” over Prime Minister Robert Abela’s press conference on Monday evening in which he performed an abrupt U-turn and announced the public inquiry into the construction site death of Jean Paul Sofia that he had been stubbornly resisting for months on end.

The Chamber said it had serious concerns over how the Prime Minister said his sudden change of heart had been prompted by Magistrate Marse-Anne Farrugia’s apparent request to extend the timeframe of her investigation.

Not only was any such information passed on by the magistrate only for the eyes of Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg, but the Prime Minister’s assertion that the magistrate had requested an extension was untruthful.

The Chamber said this afternoon that it was also concerned about how the Prime Minister “chose a news conference to attack a member of the judiciary when he knows full well that she is not in a position to defend herself”.

It went on to explain how the Criminal Code regulates the procedure for conducting a magisterial inquiry and that, by law, a magistrate has 60 days in which to close an inquiry.

If the inquiry is not closed within that timeframe, the Chamber explained, the law provides that the magistrate files a report that is sent to the Attorney General in which the reasons for the delay are explained.

Following that, at the end of each month, until the inquiry is closed, the magistrate prepares another report to be forwarded to the Attorney General for her information only.

“The procedure followed by this magisterial inquiry is no different from the procedures followed in any other magisterial inquiries, and therefore it is clear that the magistrate did not request any extension of the inquiry’s term.”

The Chamber also stressed that any such report is confidential and only for the Attorney General and that it should not have made its way to the Prime Minister.

“The Chamber appreciates that the judiciary is not beyond criticism, however, it calls for maturity and that in each case, a clear, complete picture is given factually and truthfully.”

In a similar vein, the Opposition earlier this week asked the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life to investigate Prime Minister Robert Abela and Justice Minister Jonathan Attard over the same state of affairs – how they both knew on Monday that Magistrate Farrugia had sent her regular monthly report to the AG.

Opposition Shadow Justice Minister Karol Aquilina cried foul over Abela and Attard’s information related to the ongoing magisterial that could only have come their way from Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg herself. The Opposition also took the Prime Minister to task for exploiting the standard situation for political opportunism.

Sofia was killed at what was to be a timber factory that was being built illegally on government property by Serbian contractors and Maltese developers with a criminal past and connections to the Lands Authority when it suddenly collapsed on 3 December.

In a dramatic turn of events on Monday, Abela buckled to months of mounting public pressure and announced a public inquiry into Sofia’s death.

The move came after he had his MPs vote against an opposition motion for the public inquiry to be instituted, and just before a public protest that was planned on Monday evening.