Former Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil must produce documentary evidence proving that Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi’s decision to continue to preside over appeals in the Panama Papers cases, would render him a “victim” by violating his right to a fair hearing, a judge decided on Tuesday.
This was laid down by Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon, when the First Hall, Civil Court, continued to hear the constitutional case instituted by Dr Busuttil.
Dr Busuttil had filed a constitutional application to overturn Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi's decision not to recuse himself in appeals filed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, as well as Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Malcolm Scerri and Adrian Hillman regarding the Panama Papers case.
The appeals are from a decision taken in July by Magistrate Ian Farrugia, who had decreed that the prerequisites for a criminal investigation into the men had been met.
This morning the Constitutional case I filed to remove Judge Antonio Mizzi from the #PanamaPapers inquiry started being heard. Incredibly, Joseph Muscat's lawyers asked what interest do I have in the case. Let me spell it out for them: J-U-S-T-I-C-E. @AzzopardiJason
— Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) January 9, 2018
Keeping political jibes between the lawyers firmly in check, the court declared that it would not tolerate any unnecessary wrangling between the parties and that the Court would take total control over the proceedings.
READ: Judge Mizzi decides to hear Panama Papers appeals; PN protests
Mr Justice Zammit McKeon declared that all pleas, both those of a legal nature as well as those on the merits, together with the claims brought by Dr Busuttil would be decided upon in one judgment.
Moreover, the court declared that Dr Busuttil, through his lawyer Jason Azzopardi, was to submit within one week factual evidence showing how Dr Busuttil would be a ‘victim’, should Mr Justice Mizzi continue to hear the case.
Dr Busuttil has repeatedly said that the judge's marriage to Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi makes him unfit to hear the appeals case.
READ: Busuttil files constitutional application over Panama Papers appeal
On November 30, 2017, the court had allowed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, together with businessmen Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Malcolm Scerri and Adrian Hillman, to join the suit as respondents.
Today’s sitting marked the next step in a legal saga sparked off in July when the former PN Leader had called upon a magistrates’ court to launch an investigation into the revelations emerging from the Panama Papers involving several high profile Maltese figures.
Magistrate Ian Farrugia, presiding over the case, had decreed that the prerequisites for an inquiry had been met. This effectively meant that a magisterial inquiry would establish whether money-laundering laws had been breached by government officials when opening offshore companies in Panama.
However, the seven individuals set to be targeted by the inquiry, had filed separate appeals calling for the revocation of Magistrate Farrugia’s decree.
The appeals were assigned to Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi, prompting a challenge by the former leader of the Opposition on the grounds that the judge’s wife, Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi, had expressed her views on the Panama Papers scandal.
Following the Judge’s refusal to accept the challenge, Dr Busuttil had filed a separate constitutional case claiming a violation of his right to a fair hearing and requesting that the appeals be assigned to a different member of the judiciary.
The case continues next week.