Recusal alert for judge who served Labour minister

The newly-promoted judge Grazio Mercieca could face a raft of requests for recusals from lawyers, after the Chief Justice assigned him cases related to review decisions made by the government.

Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi assigned Mercieca – appointed magistrate in 2016 and promoted to judge earlier this year – with the job of handling cases concerning decisions made by the government and public authorities, where plaintiffs protest such administrative decisions.

But Mercieca is already facing the threat of recusal requests from lawyers who have balked at the prospect of asking the one-time Labour official and advisor to former Gozo minister Anton Refalo, to review decisions made by the government.

The caseload was previously in the hands of Mr Justice Joseph Micallef, part of which was handed over to Mr Justice Toni Abela. But as the former deputy leader for party affairs of the Labour Party, Abela was said to have refused to take on administrative review cases due to the threat of recusals.

Grazio Mercieca, 61, was for many years a president of the Labour Party’s Gozo section, and in 2013 was appointed to the personal secretariat of Gozo minister Anton Refalo as chief advisor. He was paid a salary package of just over €50,000.

One of the lawyers who spoke to MaltaToday specifically mentioned one case he is representing, that concerns a decision by the Gozo Channel. “It is unthinkable to have none other than a former chief advisor in the Gozo ministry to pass judgement over a case like this.”

Another lawyer remarked that more attention should be paid on assignments where the judge has had an active political life. “You can’t have been ‘in government’ and now be expected to take a portfolio of cases that involve the administrative decisions of that same government.”

In 2015 Mercieca became court attorney to Mr Justice Wenzu Mintoff, and then was appointed in 2016 to the bench after having been scrutinised by the new judicial appointments commission. Mercieca was originally cleared for appointment as judge.