GWU to file constitutional case requesting judge's recusal

Judge Jacqueline Padovani Grima has ruled that she will continue hearing the case that the Nationalist Party filed against the General Workers Union, after the latter called on to judge to recuse herself.

 The PN are accusing the GWU of an alleged breach of contract, when it sublet part of the Workers' Memorial Building in Valletta to utilities billing agency ARMS Ltd and Sciacca Grill.

The GWU asked for her recusal, arguing that the PN’s lawyer was a senior partner at the law firm that employs the judge’s siblings.

Reassuring both parties that the court is impartial, Padovani Grima today said there were no grounds for her recusal, after having consulted the EU’s principles regarding impartiality.

Representing the GWU, lawyer Aaron Mifsud Bonnici said he will be filing a Constitutional case on the matter.

The lawsuit accuses the GWU of breaching a unanimously approved parliamentary resolution that had prohibited any subletting of the building if not to GWU subsidiaries or companies in which the union was a majority shareholder.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Daniel Buttigieg are appearing on behalf of the PN Parliamentary Group, whilst lawyer John Bonello and Aaron Mifsud Bonnici are representing the GWU.