Adrian Delia’s Twitter slip earns him Labour’s ridicule

Adrian Delia on Monday evening called for an “independent magisterial inquiry” into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination in the wake of news reports on possible suspects behind her murder.

But the Nationalist Party leader got his knickers into a twist by referring to a “magisterial inquiry” in his tweet rather than a "public inquiry".

The Labour Party took no time to remind Delia that a magisterial inquiry into the assassination is ongoing.

A magisterial inquiry was initiated at the time of the murder and is still open despite three men being charged with the crime. Magistrate Neville Camilleri is leading the magisterial inquiry.

Adrian Delia tweeted about the need for a magisterial inquiry

“After 24 hours of trying to ride on a newspaper story, he [Delia] told us in a tweet that this story confirms the need for an independent magisterial inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder… But whoever followed the case knows that a magisterial inquiry already exists,” the PL said.

It accused Delia of being taken over by the PN faction that “wants to politicise everything”.

“Delia has ended up making requests that make no sense… the Opposition is confused to the point that it is not even getting the basics right, and cannot be trusted to make decisions,” the PL said.

Delia was probably referring to the public inquiry that was appointed recently to determine, among other things, whether the murder could have been prevented.

The public inquiry is distinct from the magisterial inquiry.

In Parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he had a meeting with the Caruana Galizia family and its legal representatives to discuss concerns over the people nominated to the public inquiry.

Late last month, Muscat announced that he had appointed retired judge Michael Mallia, constitutional lawyer Ian Refalo and forensic expert Anthony Abela Medici, to lead a public inquiry into the journalist’s assassination.

The family has objected to the appointed people, insisting they have a conflict of interest.

The public inquiry was requested by the Council of Europe, and government only exceeded to the demand towards the end of the deadline imposed by the European body.