Judge Dismisses Joseph Muscat’s Evidence Request In Vitals Inquiry Case
Judge Doreen Clarke has dismissed a request by Joseph Muscat to be given access to documents that the NGO Repubblika had presented to kickstart a magisterial inquiry into the Vitals hospital deal.
Clarke, who is overseeing a case that Muscat filed against the State Advocate to dismiss magistrate Gabriella Vella from the inquiry, had already dismissed Muscat’s request last November.
Muscat filed a court application to request the reversal of this decision, but Clarke stood firm. In a ruling delivered today, she informed Muscat that the law clearly prohibited him from appealing against a decree passed before final judgement.
In an interview with Lovin Malta, Repubblika president Robert Aquilina had warned that Muscat didn’t have a right to view these documents seeing as he hasn’t been charged with a crime.
“As a crime suspect, he doesn’t have a right to these documents and we didn’t want to act as tools against the interests of justice,” he said.
“If he is one day charged with a crime, he will have a right to discovery and all the documents but so far he has no right to them.”
“Giving him access to these documents could constitute tipping off and we don’t want to help Joseph Muscat to go against the inquiring magistrate’s decision not to give him access to these documents.”
What do you make of this situation?
READ NEXT: Malta Tax Department Warns Of Fraudulent Text Messages Threatening 'Debt Seizures' Against Payments
