Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told Parliament today he was precluded by law from giving information as to whether a magistrate conducting an inquiry had requested to go abroad to further follow up the process.

In a parliamentary question, Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi asked the minister whether any magistrate had asked to do this. Although he did not mention Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, who is investigating the ‘Egrant’ case, it has recently been stated that this magistrate was conducting part of his investigation abroad.

Dr Bonnici said that to reply to Dr Azzopardi’s question, he could undermine magistrates’ secrecy so he would not check whether any such request had been made.

In a supplementary question, Dr Azzopardi asked if it was true that a court expert had been sacked from his job following his participation in the inquiry. Dr Bonnici said that the transfer he knew about was that of a court employee who had, on Facebook, expressed joy at Labour winning the general election.

He said any magistrate could appoint any court expert, even anyone not including in a list of experts who had been vetted after due diligence.

Read: Muscat asks inquiring magistrate to investigate Egrant claims

Magistrate Bugeja’s inquiry was launched upon a request to the Commissioner of Police by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. He is investigating allegations that his wife Michelle is the owner of a secret offshore company, Egrant Inc.

Dr Muscat has insisted that the allegation is false.