Minister calls on judiciary to better spread use of court experts

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has urged members of the judiciary to make better use of court experts, saying that use of experts should not be limited to the common few.

Addressing parliament, the minister took umbrage at media reports suggesting a “racket” in the use of court experts. Legal operators speaking to the Times of Malta complained of certain cases where members of the judiciary regularly appointed the same experts despite their “dubious expertise” in the subject matter.

The minister did admit that there were instances where a handful of experts were being repeatedly appointed by members of the judiciary despite the availability of other experts. At the same time, Bonnici noted that the availability of court experts was limited.  

“My appeal is to the judiciary for a better agreement among them to make better use of experts,” he said.

It is up to a judge or magistrate to appoint a court expert of their choice. This, Bonnici said, reduced red tape and ensured a speedier way of doing things. “Should we now expect a judge to request the authorisation of some department to appoint a court expert?” he questioned.

At the same time, he admitted that one disadvantage was that members of the judiciary would opt for the same court experts, resulting in the same experts facing huge workloads.

Bonnici insisted that the Chamber of Advocates did not believe in the existence of some racket between the judiciary and experts, as alleged by the newspaper.

“If you ask me whether there requires fine-tuning, I would agree,” the minister added, as he insisted that the government had started work in ensuring a better operation of the system.

Bonnici said a Justice Department had been set up, where a register of experts and court translators came into force. Court experts had also been invited to declare any conflict of interests they might have, their qualifications and any other information they felt the courts should be aware of.

Media reports have pointed fingers toward court expert Martina Bajada, who 23 years ago was found guilty by a London court of theft and fraud. The Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court had found Bajada guilty to 10 counts of theft and was handed a two-year suspended sentence. Bajada, then still an employee at Air Malta, had also reportedly stolen €59,329.

The Justice Minister confirmed that Bajada was one of the more popular court experts: “Every year he is paid hundreds of thousands for services rendered.”

“I am not here to defend [Bajada] and it’s up to the judiciary to decide whether they want t to appoint him or not. All I know is that he is efficient. However, I want to draw attention to the fact that this parliament, only yesterday, was talking about giving individuals a second chance. We talked about rehabilitation,” he said.

Bonnici added that the judiciary was discerning enough to decide whether Bajada should be appointed on cases similar to the ones he had been convicted of.