Sources close to the Chamber of Advocates have told this newsroom that the Chamber is completely "in the dark" on the new judicial appointments expected to take place in the coming weeks, although Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has told this newsroom otherwise.
On Thursday, The Malta Independent learnt that Magistrates Francesco Depasquale and Yana Micallef Stafrace were in line to be named judges in the coming days, whilst Nadine Lia nee Sant has been tipped to be named as a magistrate.
The Malta Independent reported back in November last year that Nadine Lia – who is the daughter-in-law of the Labour Party's and indeed the Prime Minister's lawyer Pawlu Lia – was being tipped to be appointed to the bench after the retirement of Judge Antonio Mizzi. She recently served as a legal advisor for the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, and as the chairperson of the Family Business Act committee, under Economy Minister Chris Cardona.
Depasquale was made magistrate in 2011 and was assigned all libel and defamation cases. Yana Micallef Stafrace, daughter of forrmer Labour MP Joseph Micallef Stafrace was appointed to the Bench in April 2017.
This being said, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told this newsroom that any judicial appointment has to, by law, pass through the Judicial Appointment Committee, in which the government has absolutely no say in, before coming to the government. He said that the Chamber of Advocates is represented on this committee along with a number of other independent figures and organisations.
He said that this structure, which the government itself had introduced, was functioning and that the government would always obey the law to keep strengthening rule of law. He said that he could not confirm or deny the news of the new appointments, but said that if there are developments in this regard they will be announced at the first opportunity.
In an interview with this newsroom, Bonnici had said that as part of an upcoming reform, the government would have no say whatsoever in judicial appointments, instead leaving the whole procedure to the Judicial Appointments Committee. The current system involves this committee, but leaves the final say for appointments to the Justice Minister.
Bonnici had told this newsroom back then that there were some vacancies coming up prior to the completion of the reform due to the retirement of members of the judiciary – such as the aforementioned retirement of Judge Antonio Mizzi – and that these vacancies would have to be filled using the currently existing system.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2BWbkXW
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment