Muscat wants removal of Vitals inquiry magistrate Gabriella Vella

The embattled former prime minister Joseph Muscat has demanded the immediate recusal of the magistrate leading an inquiry into the privatisation of state hospitals under his administration.

Muscat filed the legal request in court a day after a joint investigation from The Times of Malta and its partners revealed the role of a former Vitals Global Healthcare company in Switzerland, to receive payments from concessionaires Steward, and to pay out consultancy fees to Muscat after he resigned in the 2019 political crisis.

The legal request was signed by lawyer Charlon Gouder.

Muscat has denied knowing that VGH Europe, later Accutor, was receiving any payments from Steward – successors to the hospitals’ first concessionaire Vitals Global Healthcare. He insists he received fees from Accutor for services rendered to it.

Muscat is demanding that Magistrate Gabriella Vella relinquish her role in the inquiry on the hospitals concession, for it to pass to another member of the judiciary “who can secure impartiality, both as perception and a matter of fact, in this case which has now turned political.”

Muscat protested that Vella had not decreed any of his own requests to testify. “For some reason, she was comfortable in ordering the Police to enter on my family in our home but not in hearing what I have to say,” he said of the police seizure of documents that took place in 2022.

Muscat hit out at the leaks from the inquiry, pointing his finger at voices whom he said “publicly boast of knowing what was going to happen, people who showed up on my doorstep to follow proceedings, and now even the publication of information that seems to be originating from the Inquiry.”

Muscat then said that members of the immediate family of Magistrate Gabriella Vella “promoted propaganda by those who filed for the inquiry, and even expressed themselves publicly on the issue under scrutiny. Constitutional case-law, the Code of Ethics and international principles governing the judiciary are clear about this.”

Muscat said former MP Jason Azzopardi and Repubblika president Robert Aquilina had made statements on social media, showing they were knowledgeable of any inquiry findings, pointing out the presence of Aquilina outside his Burmarrad residence during a police search.

He said Vella’s relatives, her brother Massimo Vella and Aldo Vella, both lawyers, were active on social media in their support of Repubblika or accusations against Muscat. “What they have commented upon on social media makes a direct reference to the magisterial inquiry,” Muscat said.

“It is clear that this prejudice from the magistrate’s family members is being reflected on me,” Muscat said. “It is natural that in the eyes of the public, it is difficult to perceive objective impartiality.”

Muscat, hitting out at what he called “the outrageous moves of the past few days”,  cited the Bangalore principles that highlight a conflict of interest for a judge when politically active family members “affect the public perception of the judge’s impartiality.”

He cited the Koulias case in the European Cout of Human Rights to insist that Vella’s familiarity with these detractors made her recusal necessary. “They have made me lose all possible trust I could have in this process. As I said yesterday, I will fight even on my own for truth to prevail and for those cooking up conjectures to suit their political agenda to pay.”