Court agrees that Egrant report request is 'matter of urgency'

The Opposition leader filed a constitutional application last week seeking a full copy of the magisterial inquiry’s report

Last week Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has filed a constitutional application seeking a full copy of the Egrant inuqiry report
Last week Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has filed a constitutional application seeking a full copy of the Egrant inuqiry report

A court has upheld a request that it treat with urgency a constitutional application filed by Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia in which he is asking to be given a complete copy of the Egrant inquiry report.

Delia had filed an application last Thursday, arguing that the Attorney General’s refusal to hand over a full copy of the report created an issue of constitutional significance, given that the matter at hand was of national importance.

He had requested that the case be treated as urgent.

The whole truth, and not just part of it, had to emerge, he had argued. The PN leader had insisted that the Opposition needed the full report so that it could fulfill its constitutional function.

The Attorney General had disputed the need for urgency, saying the novelty and complexity of the case militated against it being heard with urgency.

In a decree delivered from chambers, Judge Robert Mangion, however, ruled that being heard with urgency did not mean that the matter would be treated lightly or only examined superficially. The court said it would be giving an in-depth examination to the matter “as is fitting.”

The court also pointed out that the very fact that the case had been filed by the leader of the Opposition, a constitutionally-established position, meant it merited being heard with urgency, setting a hearing on 3 September.

Court proves Delia right 

Reacting to the decision, the Nationalist Party said that the courts had proved Delia right.

It accused the Attorney General of wanting to be the only one to decide, and to hinder the leader of the Opposition exerting his rights at law.

It said that Delia had filed his application after the AG’s refusal to publish the report, a decision it said went against the constitution and European Convention.

It said that in his reply to the application filed with urgency, the AG had favoured the government when he opposed the case being heard with urgency, “going against the principle of transparency, as well as against the national interest”.