Bernard Grech calls on government to withdraw bill amending the Interpretation Act

Opposition leader Bernard Grech called on Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis to withdraw the bill amending the Interpretation Act, saying that it isn’t faithful towards the Constitution.

During his speech in Parliament, Grech argued that the bill takes away the individual’s right to a fair hearing and takes away from fundamental rights set int he Constitution.

“We’re not talking about damages but about punishment,” he said.

As it stands, the bill amending the Interpretation Act will allow administrative fines issued by regulatory entities to be interpreted as a criminal punishment. Government moved the Bill after failing to obtain a two-thirds approval for a direct amendment of the Constitution. 

With his appeal, Grech said that the Nationalist Party will be ready to help and carry out legal amendments, but insisted that this bill must be scrapped entirely.

“Let’s understand that this is dangerous and unconstitutional,” he continued. “We are ready to discuss the law to achieve what we want to achieve.”

From the Labour bench, Jose Herrera said court magistrates are already indundated with serious cases relating to murder, money-laundering, and similar crimes. The bill seeks to alleviate the burden on magistrates having to preside over penal fines.

He further elaborated that Malta never had any legal definitions for what a criminal offence is.

“If you have an administrative fine, while having no definition of a crime, the penalty can never be considered a crime,” Herrera said.

He pointed out that this amendment would also bring Malta more in line with Moneyval recommendations, which highlighted that sanctions should not be delayed by judicial processes.