Below follows the Government's reply to recent comments on defamation:

The Government would like to recall that, despite the very serious allegations being made by  Mr McGrail even before the Inquiry was set up, it was the Government itself that convened the independent Public Inquiry to investigate, establish and report on the facts and  circumstances leading to the retirement of Ian McGrail as Commissioner of Police.  

The Government has also given a public commitment to publish the report.  

Accordingly, the Government believes that Commissioner Openshaw should be allowed to do  his work: to investigate and report the Inquiry findings.  

In contrast Mr McGrail and his legal team appear unwilling to allow the process of the fair  and independent establishment of the facts to run its course.  

Instead, they appear determined to convert this Inquiry into a gladiatorial contest of allegations  in which they have determined, from the outset, to use every opportunity, however  procedurally inappropriate, to make very serious allegations of personal wrongdoing against the  then Interim Governor, the Chief Minister and the Attorney General.  

This is despite the Inquiry not having made any finding of facts or wrongdoing, of any kind, that  would justify the allegations, which Mr McGrail has sought to publicise and which, needless to  say, the Government strongly denies and refutes.  

The Government is conscious that these individuals have rights too, not just Mr McGrail, including  the important right to protect their reputations while the Inquiry process takes it course.  

It is not fair or right, in the context of a statutory inquisitorial inquiry set up precisely to establish  the true facts, that these individuals who hold or have held high office in Gibraltar, and indeed  Gibraltar as a whole, should be suffering the reputational consequences of premature,  un-substantiated, untested and undetermined allegations of the sort being made by Mr McGrail  and his legal team on his behalf.  

The Chief Minister also has the right and, indeed, the duty to protect the reputation of  our jurisdiction from such unproven, mere allegations.  

The legal team representing Mr McGrail, and those commenting on the subject, should reflect  that everyone has human rights, even politicians and senior officials. Protecting their human  rights is as fundamental as the protection of the rights of all others. No one involved in this inquiry should  think otherwise.