These Are The People MEPs Plan To Quiz About Rule Of Law During Upcoming Trip To Malta
A special European Parliament delegation will arrive in Malta next week to investigate corruption and the state of the rule of law on the island in the wake of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Lovin Malta has obtained a copy of the delegation’s draft programme which, although not yet confirmed by the interviewees, gives a clear indication as to what the MEPs’ plans are.
Notably, the MEPs plan to hold a half-hour meeting with journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia, the eldest son of Daphne Caruana Galizia who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year for his work on the Panama Papers investigations. They also plan to speak for an hour with former police inspector Jonathan Ferris, who claimed earlier this year that the Financial Investigative Analysis Unit (FIAU) had sacked him because it wanted to stop him uncovering dirt on the government.
Representatives from the FIAU will be interviewed separately.
Other people on the guest list are Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, justice minister Owen Bonnici, police commissioner Laurence Cutajar and Attorney General Peter Grech – the latter two who have been accused of incompetence by civil society and the Opposition.
The MEPs plan to speak to Matthew Caruana Galizia, son of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
They will also try their luck with an invitation to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri and audit firm Nexia BT, both of whom had refused to appear before a separate European Parliament committee which had visited Malta back in February.
The MEPs will also speak to the Malta Financial Services Authority, which has recently faced calls by PN MEP David Casa to revoke the license of Pilatus Bank – the Ta’ Xbiex based bank which was implicated by the FIAU in three reports concerning money laundering. Pilatus Bank will be interviewed separately.
Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, who recently flagged concerns about the state of the rule of law in Malta, and a group of civil society activists and unions (namely the Advocates for the Rule of Law, Civil Society Network, Il- Kenniesa, Occupy Justice, UHM, human rights NGO Aditus, blogger-journalist Manuel Delia and lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona) will be invited too.
Finally, the list of invitees includes three journalists from independent media houses – Jacob Borg from the Times of Malta, David Lindsay from the Malta Independent, and James Debono from the newly-launched news website The Shift.
The delegation will be led by Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes
The committee of MEPs was set up by the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, composed of the leaders of all EP political groups, following the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia last month. It will be led by Socialist MEP Ana Gomes, a strong critic of Malta’s institutions and taxation system. The other MEPs on the team are Heinz Becker (EPP), Jeppe Kofod (S&D), Monica Macovei (ECR), Takis Hadjigeorgiou (GUE), Sven Giegold (Greens), Mario Borghezio (ENF), and two as-yet unconfirmed MEPs from the ALDE and EFDD political groups.
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