6 – Equipped and full-time inquiring magistrates

The Panama Papers exposed Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi’s secret Panama companies. That was 2016. The police did nothing.

Former Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil got the courts to order an inquiry into the Panama Papers. That was 2018. As far as we know the inquiry is still not concluded.

Here we are, 7 years after the biggest corruption scandal ever, and our institutions have still not done anything.

These investigations are very complicated. The magistrates who conduct them do other work. They run courts and listen to cases on which they must decide. They take turns as duty magistrates to take charge when crimes happen on their watch. They settle disputes.

And when they’re doing inquiries they must ask the police to work for them. Sometimes, especially with crimes involving politicians, the police drag their feet.

Criminals work full-time, but the magistrates who gather the evidence against them are over-worked, under-staffed, part-timers.

Magisterial inquiries are a full-time job which can no longer be done by magistrates part-time.

Magistrates should get teams of judicial police officers with the power to collect evidence.

We should be getting inquiries completed in reasonable time which is not at all what we’re getting now. 

Written by Manuel Delia
Video Production & Voiceover: Michael Kaden