Anthony Tabone is challenging the legality of the magisterial inquiry. He says he has been kept in the dark.

The Opposition leader’s driver has challenged the legality of a magisterial inquiry over suspicions that he somehow misused the fuel allocation financed by Parliament.

In an application filed yesterday, Anthony Tabone called for the probe to be halted while noting that he had not yet been made aware of the nature of the accusations against him.

Mr Tabone was suspended from his job last Monday at the request of PN leader Simon Busuttil immediately after it emerged that he was the subject of a magisterial inquiry.

However, Speaker Anġlu Farrugia wrote to Dr Busuttil two days later informing him that there was not enough evidence to warrant the suspension.

In his application, Mr Tabone made reference to comments given to Malta Today by Dr Farrugia last Wednesday.

According to that news outlet, Dr Farrugia denied filing a criminal complaint on the alleged discrepancies between fuel consumption and the car’s mileage, or filing a report on fraud, Mr Tabone said.

Citing article 546 of the Criminal Code, Mr Tabone said that a magisterial inquiry could only be ordered for crimes punishable by more than a three-year jail term.

He also cited the letter which Dr Farrugia sent to the Opposition leader, reported yesterday in the Times of Malta, in which he said “there is no direct evidence against the driver at this stage”.

In view of this, Mr Tabone argued that there were no grounds at all to open the inquiry and he therefore called for its immediate termination.

Though the circumstances which triggered this investigation have not yet been fully established, this newspaper yesterday reported that suspicions of foul play were first raised when the car, an Opel Insignia, recently underwent repairs.

Sources said that this fuelled complaints from Parliament’s accounts department that this was happening too often.

For some reason this led to the car’s consumption patterns coming under scrutiny, even though the €70 weekly allowance was never exceeded.

In his immediate reaction after Mr Tabone’s suspension was terminated, Dr Busuttil expressed bafflement at what he called the Speaker’s “disproportionate” decision to refer to the police the case of somebody who did not even merit a suspension.

Meanwhile Dr Busuttil’s official car is still impounded and he is now making use of another vehicle provided by Parliament.