Government explains officials' position

The Malta Maritime Authority's chairman Marc Bonello and executive director Lino Vassallo have been advised by the authority's French lawyers not to appear before the French inquiring magistrate presiding over the Erika disaster investigation until appeal proceedings instituted by the Maltese government have been completed.

The government yesterday said it was insisting before the French court that the two public officials could not be summoned to Paris because Malta enjoyed state immunity and both Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo were state officials.

The government was reacting to a report published by French newspaper Le Figaro, which stated that French magistrate Dominique de Talance had issued an international warrant of arrest against Mr Vassallo for failing to appear for a hearing on the Erika disaster.

In December 1999, the Erika, a Maltese registered oil-tanker, sank off the coast of France spilling 10,000 tonnes of oil. More than 300,000 birds died from the pollution.

The Le Figaro report also said that the Maltese authorities and officials were being investigated for putting people's lives in danger and of complicity in pollution.

The government, through the ministry for transport, yesterday evening said that a year ago, through normal channels, Madame de Talance asked the Maltese authorities for assistance and judicial cooperation, which was fully accorded.

The government said that Madame de Talance had, in the absence of any agreement between Malta and France, summoned Dr Bonello, in his capacity as chairman, and Mr Vassallo to appear before the court in Paris for a first hearing on July 15, 2003.

Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo were advised by the authority's French legal representatives not to appear, on the basis that the summons did not comply with the proper procedures as established under the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, to which both Malta and France are parties. As such, the lawyers argued, the summons was null and void.

As a result, the magistrate ordered Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo to attend the Court Tribunal in Paris on September 25 and 26.

Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo were advised to attend this hearing, during which their lawyers maintained the stand that the magistrate was in violation of the state immunity enjoyed by Malta in that the Malta Maritime Authority was a state agency and Mr Vassallo a state official.

Despite this the magistrate summoned Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo to appear again before her at a sitting on December 15.

As the summons was being contested in the French appeal courts, Dr Bonello and Mr Vassallo were advised not to attend until the appeal proceedings were completed.

The transport ministry said that no arrest warrant for the Maltese officials had been received by the authority, adding it was not yet clear whether this has in fact been approved by the French courts.

The MMA explained they were still waiting for a ruling from the French Court of Appeal, as the government was claiming that the French magistrate had no jurisdiction over a foreign government or an official of that government exercising his normal duties. As a result, it would not have made sense to attend the court summons when the jurisdiction of the French magistrate was being questioned.

This is the second time that the MMA and Mr Vassallo have been summoned by the French court in respect of the Erika inquiry.

The MMA said the Maltese authorities would continue to cooperate with the French authorities in the investigation of this casualty but always within the norms and practices laid down by international law.