26/06/2019 Session
PACE has listed a series of “serious concerns” over the investigation into the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and demanded the setting up of an independent public inquiry into her death within three months.
In a resolution based on a report by Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), the Assembly called on Maltese law enforcement bodies to “robustly investigate and prosecute” those involved in or benefiting from the scandals exposed by Daphne Caruana Galizia and her colleagues.
The parliamentarians pointed to a series of “major scandals” in Malta in recent years, adding that certain individuals involved in these scandals seemed to “enjoy impunity, under the personal protection of Prime Minister Muscat”.
“The rule of law in Malta is seriously undermined by the extreme weakness of its system of checks and balances,” the Assembly said.
It called on Malta to urgently implement, in their entirety, reforms recommended by the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and its anti-corruption body GRECO, noting that the recent State Advocate bill was “inadequate to reform the office of Attorney General”.