Opinion: Robert Abela’s War Against Inquiries Is An Anti-Citizen Move
Robert Abela is trying to portray himself and his team, the people who literally run the country, as the victims of a subversive plot.
This isn’t the first time he has embarked on this narrative but there is something more sinister this time, because he now wants to change the law to make it harder for citizens to request investigations into the powers that be.
“They want to send us all to jail,” he cried out. “Not even mothers and pregnant women are safe.”
What Abela failed to point out is what an investigation actually means. When someone, be it Jason Azzopardi, Robert Aquilina or whoever, requests a magisterial inquiry, the magistrate cannot just accept it on a whim.
If Azzopardi had to ask a magistrate to investigate Abela for personally breaking into a bank just because he had heard a rumour, the magistrate would dismiss it immediately.
Even if the magistrate does accept the request, the suspect can appeal, as Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri et al had done with the 17 Black inquiry.
But even if they don’t appeal, the existence of an ongoing inquiry doesn’t automatically mean that charges will be issued. The magistrate will still need to look at the evidence and interrogate witnesses before deciding whether there is a case at all.
And even if the magistrate does find there is a case to answer, the Attorney General can still overrule this decision through the nolle prosequi procedure.
It is basically the exact same process as when a magisterial inquiry is triggered by the police, with the only difference being that the initiative is taken up by a citizen instead.
And the same process can actually be used to clear your name, as Joseph Muscat had famously done when he requested a magisterial inquiry into the Egrant affair.
If Abela wants to advocate for more rights for people facing charges, such as a revision of freezing orders and the removal of legal obstacles that delay justice, then that’s fair enough.
However, what he seems to be saying is that citizens should be stripped of their right to request investigations. If the police don’t want to investigate someone, then that person won’t be investigated, full stop.
If so, it’s nothing but the removal of a check and balance on the executive.
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