Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has asked the Commission for the Administration of Justice to look into what he said is a "very serious shortcoming" by Magistrate Anthony Vella when he did not insist on obtaining the laptop used by murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia for the murder inquiry.

"It is now public knowledge that Magistrate Vella ignored the request of the police officers investigating the assassination of Mrs Daphne Caruana Galizia to take possession of a laptop withheld from them by family members. This may have been a crucial piece of evidence in this case – a case that has shocked our country and the world," the former MP said in a letter to President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who heads the commission. 

Six months have now elapsed since this request was made.  

"This behaviour may or may not have been influenced by Magistrate Vella’s connections with the aforementioned family," Dr Pullicino Orlando said.

'An unacceptable and dangerous precedent'

The former MP, a frequent target of Ms Caruana Galizia's blogs, and now a chairman of the Malta Chairman for Science and Technology, also wrote on his Facebook page that an unacceptable and dangerous precedent was being set.

"Daphne Caruana Galizia's family have admitted to misleading the police by providing them with a laptop which she hadn't used in years rather than the one requested by the investigators. The laptop may have held crucial evidence related to her assassination. If we are to accept their argument - that they did not do so due to lack of faith in the police - we will be setting a very dangerous precedent. The Maltese Police Force has already caught the perpetrators of this heinous act. 

"The laptop could very well have provided the police with the evidence necessary to get to the person - or group of persons - who commissioned this murder. This charade has now gone beyond the limits of acceptability.

He said criminal action should be taken against anyone obstructing the course of this investigation.

"Magistrate Antonio Vella, who ignored a police request to take possession of the laptop, has a lot to answer for - especially in the light of allegations that he has direct connections with the Caruana Galizia family. No one is above the law."

Ms Caruana Galizia's sister Corinne Vella said her slain sibling would never have wanted her computer to be given to the authorities.

"She would always hide her laptop before going out. It was about protecting her sources. And she died protecting her sources. She knew that whatever information the police got hold of would go straight to the same people in government she was investigating," Ms Vella said.