The Attorney General has filed a court application querying the delay of the magisterial inquiry into the death of a Latvian construction worker who was crushed by a structure collapse at the Seabank Hotel on March 6.

Merely satisfying a preference for perfectionism or curiosity about a date does not... justify an intrusion into the confidential nature of these inquiries

The case was originally tasked to then Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani, but was transferred to Magistrate Carol Peralta when the former was sworn in as a judge in May.

Last week, the Attorney General queried a much longer delay of a magisterial inquiry that had been launched in April 2011 into the death of a Nigerian migrant who had escaped from the Safi detention centre.

In a court application, the Attorney General quoted article 550A of the Criminal Code, which lays down that, after 60 days from the start of an inquiry, the magistrate must produce a report explaining why it had not yet been concluded.

In response, Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona, who was conducting the inquiry, explained that he was waiting for a report on tests carried out abroad. The report reached him only last week.

On Monday, The Times asked the Justice Ministry whether the Attorney General would be filing a similar application in the case of the tragic Seabank collapse, which left 27-year-old Maksims Artamonovs dead.

A spokesman for Justice Minister Chris Said explained the inquiry had not been concluded and the Attorney General had filed an application, again in terms of article 550A of the Criminal Code.

Asked when the court application was filed, Attorney General Peter Grech refused to specify a date.

“Merely satisfying a preference for perfectionism or curiosity about a date does not, in my opinion, justify an intrusion into the confidential nature of magisterial inquiries,” he said.

“You were informed that an application was filed, a fact that confirms that the office is following the progress of this inquiry,but I have nothing to add to that.”

Mr Artamonovs was one of hundreds of construction workers involved in the renovation of the Seabank Hotel when an unfinished structure that was to be a nightclub collapsed with him underneath.

The search for his body took almost 24 hours.