Justice Minister Owen Bonnici would not comment on reports that an investigation into money laundering was not pursued at the time a sitting magistrate served as deputy attorney general.

MaltaToday reported last week that the investigation into the operations of an international firm was not pursued by the Maltese authorities, “ostensibly” when then parliamentary assistant Beppe Fenech Adami’s name cropped up.

Dr Fenech Adami has denied knowledge of the case and a spokesman for the Nationalist Party insisted yesterday the story published last Sunday did not in any way implicate Dr Fenech Adami as being involved in any illegal or abusive action.

“The story questions the actions of the police and/or the Attorney General’s Office and clearly states that, from all documentation available to the newspaper, it does not transpire that Dr Fenech Adami was involved in any of the alleged transactions being investigated,” the spokesman added.

A board of inquiry had been appointed to look into the allegations reported

At the time, Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech was deputy attorney general and, according to the media reports, she had been in touch with both the company under investigation and the foreign investigators.

Asked if he had referred Dr Frendo Dimech to the judiciary watchdog, the Commission for the Administration of Justice, Dr Bonnici said he had nothing to add to comments made earlier this week when he said he had informed the Chief Justice of the Prime Minister’s intention to order an inquiry into the matter.

Contacted yesterday Dr Frendo Dimech said: “I am unable to give any comment given that there is an ongoing inquiry. Moreover, and in any case, this is prohibited by the code of ethics by which the judiciary stand bound”.

Dr Bonnici said on Monday a board of inquiry had been appointed to look into the allegations reported by MaltaToday.

The inquiry board is headed by Judge Joseph Camilleri and has former judges Lawrence Quintano and Philip Sciberras as members.

Dr Bonnici said the board was tasked with looking at four main allegations: that a public authority withheld information it had in its possession; that the authority did not cooperate with the Dutch authorities investigating this case; that a company in Malta made suspicious monetary transactions; and that certain institutions did not carry out their duty to investigate an illicit activity.

The board has been given till January 16, 2017 to conclude the inquiry.

MaltaToday reported that a file compiled by investigators in January 2013 was marked “bring up in three months” on the last day of the month. The officer in charge was then assistant police commissioner Michael Cassar.

By April 2013, the Dutch authorities handling the case had dropped their charges due to lack of evidence and the file on the case involving the company that Dr Fenech Adami was a director of was marked “put away”.

Several attempts to contact Mr Cassar proved unsuccessful.