Criminal lawyer Joe Giglio has confirmed he plans to increase his involvement within the Nationalist Party but dismissed rumours that he is interested in leading the party as “purely speculative”. 

Lovin Malta reached out to Giglio after rumours were spreading that the lawyer who has no political experience was planning to mount a leadership bid against PN leader Adrian Delia.

Giglio, who was part of Delia’s legal team to get the Egrant report published, recently set up an official Facebook page as a public figure and has already amassed 10,000 followers.

In a written reply to Lovin Malta, Giglio said he “will not shy away” from increasing involvement in the party. He said there were two main reasons for his increased participation in political debates and his visibility on Facebook: the current political crisis and the encouragement of people from all walks of life.

“First, how can I remain idle in such dark times for our country? The current political crisis, especially developments linking the heart of government to the assassination of a journalist, has left me shocked, angry and wanting to be even more vociferous than I was in 2017 to take action for the good of my country. The price of corruption and bad governance is already being paid by the people and will certainly be paid by our children. I am not ready to accept this as a given.”

“Secondly, several people from all walks of life are coming forward offering words of encouragement and support. This has humbled me and made me think. What can I, Joe Giglio, do to in some way help my country.”

Giglio said this was a big question which required a lot of reflection.

“After discussing at length with my family, I am determined to support the PN administration in strengthening the Opposition as an alternative government. I will also continue meeting as many people as possible, especially party councillors (kunsilliera).”

“Many of these kunsilliera have been involved in the Nationalist Party for many years. I find their experiences to be invaluable and I am keen to learn from them. Given an opportunity, I will not shy away from increasing my involvement within the internal structures and fora of the Nationalist Party,” he said.

“However, any talk about leadership intentions is purely speculative,” Giglio concluded.

Giglio has worked in criminal law for the past 25 years and, unlike other top lawyers, has changed legal office several times. When he graduated, he began working with Jose Herrera – the current Environment Minister – and his sister Consuelo Herrera – now a magistrate. Giglio then left and set up a law firm with Ian Spiteri Bailey, a partnership which ended after around three years. Giglio changed office once again in the space of a few years and opened an office within Peter Fenech’s IURIS Advocates. At different junctures, Giglio also teamed up with lawyers like Gianella Demarco and Stephen Tonna Lowell but does not seem to work with them much any more. Giglio has now opened an office with his wife called LexPracits.

During Busuttil’s leadership of PN, Giglio presented a TV programme called Iswed Fuq l-Abjad. He had also been asked by Busuttil to head the policy fora regarding Justice and Internal Affairs.