News • January 11 2004

No arrest warrant yet against Vassallo in Erika inquiry

David Lindsay

A French Magistrate made a third attempt this week to summon Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) Merchant Shipping Executive Director Lino Vassallo to appear before an inquiry into the Erika oil spill.
Following MMA Chairman Marc Bonello and Vassallo’s failure to appear for sittings before French Investigating Magistrate Dominique de Talance on 15 July and 15-18 December, the magistrate is now seeking to issue an international arrest warrant for at least Vassallo, according to French daily Le Figaro.
If an arrest warrant is, indeed, issued, its enforceability is questionable. A Justice and Home Affairs Ministry spokesman told MaltaToday “an arrest warrant issued by a magistrate of any foreign country is not enforceable in Malta.”
If such a warrant were to be received it "would be passed to the Attorney General’s office, who would advise on the enforceability or otherwise of the warrant," a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson told this newspaper.
However, the threat has not yet been transformed into action and is thought to be up for approval before the French courts. The Transport and Communications Ministry, the MMA, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry have all confirmed that no warrant has been received.
Following an inquiry into TotalFinaElf’s role in the oil spill, the French inquiry’s efforts are now focused on the MMA. According to Le Figaro’s report, Vassallo and the MMA are charged with "placing the lives of others in danger" and with "complicity in pollution."
The MMA, on its part, insists it is co-operating fully with the inquiry, following a request from Talance over a year ago for assistance and judicial co-operation. According to the MMA the inquiry has been granted all testimony, documents and explanations it has requested.
However, Talance began to encounter opposition when she requested Bonello and Vassallo to appear before a French court for a first hearing on 15 July 2003. But citing non-compliance "with the proper procedures as established under the European Convention on Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters" the MMA’s French legal council declared the magisterial request as "null and void" and advised Bonello and Vassallo not to appear.
The MMA officials’ reluctance to present themselves freely before the inquiry is in contrast to the co-operation said to have been given to the inquiry and the blight the Erika disaster has placed on the Maltese shipping flag.
Talance’s second effort to summon the officials came when she ordered them to appear before a Court Tribunal in Paris on 25 and 26 September 2003 for their failure to attend the July sitting. The MMA was advised to attend the hearing and maintained that the magistrate, by requesting Bonello and Vassallo to appear before the inquiry in July, was "in violation of the state immunity enjoyed by Malta in that the MMA was a state organ and Mr Vassallo a state official." These appeal proceedings are still underway.
Seemingly intent on hearing their testimony, the frustrated Talance nevertheless summoned both Bonello and Vassallo once again to appear for a sitting in December. But pending the finding of the French Appeals Court, the MMA heads are being advised to not attend before the inquiring magistrate until the appeal proceedings instituted by the Maltese authorities are completed.

david@newsworksltd.com