There is nothing unusual about the Attorney General’s request to freeze the assets of the man charged with attempting to blackmail Rita Schembri, the head of the Government’s internal audit bureau, according to two lawyers.
The freezing of assets is an important tool in the fight against crime and should not be considered as an extreme or very exceptional measure
However, lawyers Veronique Dalli and Arthur Azzopardi both agreed they had never come across a case where the AG had then withdrawn his request for the freezing of the assets; as had happened in this case last week.
Attorney General Peter Grech defended his office in a statement sent to the media yesterday. He said the law allowed the prosecution to request the freezing of assets in any case where a person was charged with an offence carrying punishment of more than one year’s imprisonment.
He said he had chosen to withdraw the request following an internal review of the case and charges involved.
On Thursday the AG asked Magistrate Anthony Vella to freeze the assets of Joe Borg who is accused of defaming and attempting to blackmail Ms Schembri, through an e-mail where he allegedly accused her of breaching a lease agreement.
Ms Schembri, a member of the European anti-fraud office, OLAF, is at the centre of an investigation which she herself requested over allegations that she breached a code of ethics.
Magistrate Vella expressed surprise at the AG’s request, saying this was a defamation case and the accused was not charged with money laundering. The Magistrate deferred the decision.
The following day the AG withdrew the request which, he said in the statement, he had originally made on January 4.
“The freezing of assets is an important tool in the fight against crime and should not be considered as an extreme or very exceptional measure if that fight is to be taken seriously… it is a measure which requires immediate implementation to be effective,” the AG said, insisting there was nothing irregular about the request.
He pointed out that, after reviewing the case, his office decided to withdraw the request to freeze Mr Borg’s assets. Due consideration was also given to the fact that the Magistrate “failed to issue a temporary freezing order” as provided in the law.
Dr Dalli and Dr Azzopardi said it was not unusual for the AG to formally request freezing the assets of an accused. Dr Azzopardi said this especially happened in cases involving money such as fraud, misappropriation and bribery. What was unusual, through his experience, was that the request was then withdrawn, he said.
Lawyer Veronique Dalli agreed saying the AG had the discretionary power to make the request to freeze assets.
“I do not know of any case in which such a request was first made to the court and subsequently retracted by the AG. I do know, however, of cases where charges had been issued against a person and proceedings instituted against him/her and then, halfway through the proceedings, the AG issues a nulle prosequi and the charges against the accused are dropped,” she said.