The row over the Inquiries Bill 2024 flared up on Wednesday after Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told GBC there could be a situation where he might exercise powers in the new law to prevent some evidence in the McGrail Inquiry from being disclosed to the public.
The GSD described the comments as “stunning” and “a scandal”, adding they risked undermining public trust in the process.
But Mr Picardo said he would only take such a decision in the public interest, stressing it did not mean that Inquiry chairman Sir Peter Openshaw and legal teams for the core parties would not be able to see the evidence.
“It will not stop and will not be designed to stop [Sir] Peter Openshaw, as chairman of this inquiry, from seeing that evidence, or [Mr McGrail’s lawyer] Adam Wagner…in representing Mr McGrail, analysing and making submissions about that information, and the ruling being able to deal with that information,” Mr Picardo said.
“So the inquiry is not going to be affected.”
“[But] what people might be able to hear or see, because the inquiry might have to go in camera on some occasions, might be restricted.”
As he has done before, Mr Picardo insisted the Bill aimed to modernise existing legislation dating back to 1888 and bring it in line with UK laws.
But the timing of its publication, just weeks before the McGrail Inquiry is due to start on April 8, has raised concerns, not just here but abroad too including from Transparency International UK.
The anti-corruption organisation warned against any threats to the independence of the McGrail Inquiry that could “severely undermine” confidence in Gibraltar’s governance.
The GSD has called on the Government not to press ahead with the Bill, which No.6 Convent Place has indicated will be debated in the current session of Parliament under powers for urgent legislation.
Parliament reconvenes on Friday.
The Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, has also tabled an amendment to the Bill proposing it should not apply to the McGrail Inquiry if passed.
And on Wednesday, Mr Azopardi offered stern criticism of the Chief Minister’s comments in the GBC interview.
He said the admission by the Chief Minister that he could potentially use the new powers in the Inquiries Bill to restrict public information or hold hearings in private was “a stunning development”.
In a statement, the GSD said the development would affect public confidence in the process, describing it as “… the mark of a person who is running scared at the prospect of allowing the public to hear the evidence.”
It asked too what other powers might be used and when.
“This all demonstrates that this is not about modernisation but rather about a power-grab so he can use these new powers for politically self-serving purposes in an Inquiry which is hearing allegations about his own conduct,” Mr Azopardi said.
“This is nothing short of a scandal.”
“For Mr Picardo to ask people to believe he would be using those powers in the public interest is a step too far for most people.”
“What is Mr Picardo afraid of?”
“People will be left with thinking that there is evidence that must be politically cataclysmic for him if he is prepared to pull off stunts like this and pass laws in his own interest days before the McGrail Inquiry will start.”
“He is clearly trying to sidestep the Chairman who has already decided a number of those things or whose judgment he does not wish to defer to.”
“With every new revelation and every day that passes Mr Picardo is simply digging a bigger hole for himself in public eyes.”
In the GBC interview, Mr Picardo insisted any exercise of new powers would only be taken in the public interest, not in his personal or political interest.
He added he was confident the McGrail Inquiry would show that the Government “acted properly at all times”.
The McGrail Inquiry is tasked with probing the reasons and circumstances leading to the controversial early retirement in June 2020 of former police Commissioner Ian McGrail, after a 36-year career and halfway through his term in the top post at the Royal Gibraltar Police.
In preliminary hearings, Mr McGrail’s lawyers have alleged “misconduct and corruption” at the highest levels of government, insisting Mr McGrail was “muscled out” after being placed under huge pressure over the conduct of a live criminal investigation.
Those allegations were “denied and roundly rejected” by lawyers for the Government parties, who said Mr McGrail retired because he knew he had lost the confidence not just of the Chief Minister but, crucially, of the then Governor, who was the only person with the power to ask him to resign.
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