A judicial assistant aiding a magisterial inquiry into allegations that the Prime Minister’s top aide Keith Schembri took kickbacks is a partner in a law firm with Joseph Muscat’s personal lawyer Pawlu Lia.

Court sources told The Sunday Times of Malta that Phyllis Aquilina, a partner at Sciberras and Lia Advocates, has been recently assigned to work as a judicial assistant to Magistrate Josette Demicoli.

The sources said that “a dangerous conflict of interest arises from this appointment and it would have been much more prudent in the circumstances that a member of Pawlu Lia’s firm stays away from any member of the judiciary working on sensitive inquiries concerning members of the government.”

Judicial assistants work very closely with their assigned magistrate and would normally be aware of all their work carried out, including research assistance, drafting of sentences and collection of evidence.

In May of 2017, Magistrate Demicoli was selected to carry out an inquiry into allegations of money laundering made by then Opposition leader Simon Busuttil against the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri.

The inquiry, started a year and a half ago, has to establish whether criminal charges should be filed against Mr Schembri and Adrian Hillman, the former managing director of Allied Newspapers.

In presentations to the court, Dr Busuttil had presented documents which he claimed constituted detailed proof of €650,000 in transactions from Mr Schembri to Adrian Hillman at the time when Allied Newspapers was building a new multi-million state of the art printing facility in Mrieħel.

Mr Schembri’s company, Kasco, had won a private tender to supply all the printing equipment for the new printing press. The alleged kickbacks continued even after Mr Schembri’s appointment at Castille.

Magistrate Aron Bugeja had decreed that there was sufficient evidence for the documents to be considered further by an ad hoc magisterial inquiry, for which Magistrate Demicoli was selected.

Dr Aquilina’s presence in the magistrate’s chamber is not the first conflict of interest flagged by legal sources which directly involve Dr Lia and his close relatives.

The long-standing lawyer who often represents Labour in legal suits in court was engaged by Dr Muscat and his wife Michelle in the Egrant proceedings, and also sits on the judiciary’s watchdog – the Commission for the Administration of Justice – representing the government. He was appointed by Dr Muscat.

While Dr Lia is still a practising lawyer, appearing before members of the judiciary defending cases on a daily basis, he is also expected to act as watchdog of the judiciary within the Commission.

“How can you have a practising lawyer, who is also the Prime Minister’s personal lawyer, sitting on a commission which may discipline the same judges tasked with deciding cases he is defending? This is a blatant conflict of interest which must be stopped,” the sources said.

Dr Lia is also a consultant at the Finance Ministry and his firm, Sciberras and Lia Advocates, is on the payroll of MIMCOL – the government’s investment agency, and of Identity Malta.

Dr Lia’s son, Alessandro, also a partner at Sciberras and Lia, was appointed a member of the Broadcasting Authority representing the Labour Party. And Alessandro’s wife, Nadine Lia, is engaged as a person of trust at the Economy Ministry led by Chris Cardona.

The Sunday Times has not managed to confirm indications that Dr Nadine Lia is soon to be appointed to the bench as a magistrate on the recommendation of the government.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com

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