A magistrate has rejected Jason Azzopardi’s request to open an inquiry into alleged wrongdoing by the Lands Authority and its CEO Robert Vella, arguing that he didn’t present enough evidence.

This was one of five requests for a magisterial inquiry that Azzopardi filed last month. In this particular request, he warned that Vella intentionally failed to safeguard the public interest when he leased parcels of public land to a number of developers.

However, Azzopardi announced that his request has been rejected because he failed to provide material and concrete evidence linking Vella to a crime.

“As I have always said, it was never a guarantee that all my requests for inquiries will be accepted, because the level of proof a citizen must present is very high and citizens don’t always have the tools to gather evidence that the police intentionally ignore.”

He said that this decision rubbishes Prime Minister Robert Abela’s call for a reform to the magisterial inquiry process to protect honest ministers and public servants from frivolous inquiry requests.

“This decision confirms, if there was ever any doubt, how hard it is for a citizen – who is not an investigator – to obtain the level of proof necessary to satisfy the legal requirements for an inquiry to open,” he said.

“It confirms that there are checks and balances in the law the government wants to change. This decision sent a clear message that the law doesn’t need to be changed because it is already strong enough.”