Justice Minister says court delays due to inefficiency, not judge shortage

Edward Zammit Lewis rebutted comments from the Association of Judges that more magistrates and judges must be appointed for the courts to function effectively, saying delays won’t be resolved by increasing numbers alone.

During his parliamentary speech, Zammit Lewis directly addressed the Association of Judges on the issue of delays in the law courts. “I won’t accept the argument that delays are because of a lack of judges. Everyone needs to roll up their sleeves,” he said.

“We’ll cooperate and add more judges, but what we need is more efficiency.”

Yesterday the Association of Judges and Magistrates insisted that more judges and magistrates need to be appointed if the judiciary is to carry out their work efficiently. They further insisted that the Ministry of Justice and the Court Services Agency must ensure that the courts are given all the necessary tools in order to function in an efficient manner.

Zammit Lewis further indicated that four new courtrooms and 25 new offices will be added near the Law Courts, together with a €2.5 million warehouse investment for the Asset Recovery Bureau.

FIAU appointments

PN MP Karol Aquilina hit out at the government’s appointment of the new FIAU board set up earlier this year. In a lengthy explanation outlining how the board is appointed, Aquilina pointed out that the Committee for Public Appointments within Parliament has to be notified of appointments of a certain position, after which a public hearing is carried out and advice is given to the minister in regards to the nominees.

“The law, specifically the Public Administration Act, makes it clear that the FIAU chairman is one of these positions that Parliament must exercise scrutiny on - but this is not what the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance thought they should have done. They appointed the FIAU chairman behind everyone’s back, without notifying the Public Appointments Committee, in a clear violation of the law,” he said.