Left: Prime Minister Joseph Musat, Right: Egrant whistleblower Maria Efimova

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has brushed off serious concerns reportedly aired by a Greek court at Malta’s rule of law when deciding against extraditing Egrant whistleblower Maria Efimova to Malta.

Earlier today, the Greek courts dismissed a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by the Maltese courts against Efimova. Efimova’s lawyer Alexandros Papastergiopoulous told MaltaToday the main reason for the court’s decision were concerns about whether Efimova would be granted a fair trial, as well as concerns related to her safety if she were to be returned to Malta.

However, Greek media are reporting that the EAW was rejected because it was too generic and because it was issued before a national arrest was – against common practice. 

Greek public prosecutor Evgenia Kyvelou was quoted as saying that Malta’s EAW was “partly vague but also irregular” and that it was requesting Efimova’s extradition for “minor” offences. 

Muscat told the press today that he hasn’t read the judgement yet but that it should not be interpreted as a sign of mistrust in Malta’s rule of law by a fellow EU member state. 

“The European Arrest Warrant was requested by the Maltese courts and not by the government, and the Greek courts have now taken their own autonomous decision,” he said. “I don’t see this as a sign of mistrust in Malta’s rule of law, and it’s by no means the first time an EU country rejected a European Arrest Warrant issued by another EU country.”

Efimova made the headlines last year when she came out as one of the main sources behind journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s story that the Prime Minister’s wife Michelle Muscat owns the offshore Panama company Egrant. Muscat has denounced the story as “the biggest lie in Malta’s political history”. 

She and her family fled from Malta to Crete after last year’s election, with the former Pilatus Bank employee saying she feared for her safety. She later wrote to Joseph Muscat to claim that an unspecified Maltese politician went as far as to subcontract a private detective to follow and speak to her father in Moscow.

The Maltese courts issued two European arrest warrants against her after she failed to turn up to two criminal cases, one for allegedly defrauding Pilatus Bank and one for making false accusations against two police officers. She gave herself up to the Greek police earlier this month, with Greek media reporting she did so amid fears that the UK media intended to link her to the Salisbury nerve agent attack against former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. 

A former employee of Pilatus Bank, she gave herself up to the Greek authorities last month on the same day that her former boss – Pilatus Bank owner Ali Sadr Hasheminejad – was arrested in the United States.

Former PN leader Simon Busuttil said today’s decision proves Greece has a greater respect for justice than Joseph Muscat. PN MEP David Casa, who testified in favour of Efimova in Athens today, said the failure of the Maltese police to arrest tourism minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri over the Panama Papers is clear enough proof that the rule of law in Malta is not functioning.

Protest group OccupyJustice also praised the decision by the Greek courts. 

There was no instant reaction from PN leader Adrian Delia. 

READ NEXT: Magistrate Has Egrant Docs Which Did Not Originate From Russian Whistleblower

Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]