Internal inquiry into Gaffarena expropriation will be published

An investigation by the Internal Audit and Investigations Department into the Gaffarena expropriation deal will be made public, the government has confirmed.

“It is evident that the government will publish the inquiry,” the Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement, reacting to accusations by the Opposition that an IAID inquiry was ordered “because such reports are not published”.

Earlier, the Nationalist Party reiterated that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was with his back against wall and, “in a panicked reaction”, ordered an IAID investigation.

Describing the IAID as “a Castille department”, the Opposition said there was a basic difference between the National Audit Office and the IAID. The NAO will be carrying out its own investigation into the Gaffarena expropriation, following a request by the Opposition.

“The IAID reports to the Cabinet and doesn’t publish its investigations,” it said, referring to the legislation regulating the IAID. According to the law, “all information furnished by an auditee during the course of any internal audit or financial investigation shall at all times be treated as confidential and shall be solely used by the Directorate for the purpose of carrying out the internal audit and, or financial investigation”.

The law also says that “the Director shall treat internal audit reports and reports of financial investigations as strictly confidential and shall, except for the purpose of any criminal investigation or prosecution, only disclose their contents to the Permanent Secretary or, as the case may be, the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Central Bank of Malta, and, if necessary, to the Board, or to the Auditor General”.

Insisting that it should be the NAO who investigates the Old Mint Street expropriation deal, the PN said: “Joseph Muscat is politically responsible of this scandal and must shoulder political responsibility. In everything that Muscat says, look out for the catch.”

Reacting, the government accused the Opposition of “inconsistency”, pointing out that while shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi had criticised the IAID inquiry, deputy leader Mario de Marco said that the NAO investigation and the IAID inquiry “should not hinder each other”.

Pointing out that the IAID had been set up by the previous administration, the government said: “Why is the Opposition attacking a structure set up by the Nationalist administration?”