Seven high profile individuals involved in the Panama appeals, including the Prime Minister, are joining the Attorney General who was the defendent in the constitutional suit filed by Simon Busuttil, asking for investigations into the Panama Papers to be handled by a different judge.
The First Hall, Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon today upheld a request by the Attorney General, which effectively means that 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, will now join the suit instituted by Dr Busuttil.
Lawyer Jason Azzopardi, assisting Dr Busuttil, declared in open court that the applicant would not be filing an appeal against the decree just delivered by Mr Justice Zammit McKeon.
This case constitutes the next stage 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 he would lead a magisterial inquiry to 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 Magistrate Farrugia’s decree to be revoked.
Their appeals were assigned to Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi, which Dr Busuttil challenged on the grounds that the judge’s wife, Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi, had expressed her views on the Panama Papers scandal.
Since Mr Justice Mizzi refused to accept the challenge, Dr Busuttil 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 in January.