Commission says magistrate ignored its warning

The Commission for the Administration for Justice has published the full correspondence it sent to Magistrate Antonio Mizzi, who it deems to be in breach of the judiciary's code of ethics, saying it was doing so because the magistrate had not regularised his position even after having been warned that the Commission would take "other action".

It described this fact as "serious".

The Commission last month published letters it had sent to the magistrate and to Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco informing them that their positions as presidents of sports organisations was in breach of the judiciary's code of ethics.

Magistrate Mizzi is president of the Malta Basketball Association while Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco is president of the Malta Olympic Committee.

The latter, however, is not mentioned in the Commission's latest statement.

The Commission referred to rule 9(d) of the code of ethics for the judiciary which states that "members of the judiciary cannot hold any position, even if temporary, voluntary or honourary, and neither can they carry out any activity which, in the view of the Commission for the Administration of Justice, may compromise their position, duties or functions".

The Commission also published an excerpt of the guidelines approved on June 8, 2004, which refer to social and cultural activities. The guidelines stipulate that members of the judiciary can attend social, cultural, historical, educational or sports activities, so long as they do not compromise their role as judges and magistrates. Members of the judiciary cannot hold any position in an organisation which, directly or indirectly, requires fund-raising through sponsorships or an organisation that receives funds from the government. When doubt exists, the Chief Justice should be consulted on the matter, according to the guidelines.

The Commission said that following the approval of the said guidelines and code of ethics, it wrote to Magistrate Mizzi on October 21, 2005, requesting a meeting. During the meeting, which took place on December 1, Magistrate Mizzi explained his role as president of the MBA and on February 20, 2006, the Commission wrote back to him informing him that in its view, his position was in breach of rule 9(d) of the code of ethics and the guidelines on social and cultural activities. It therefore asked him to regularise his position "over a period of time".

Three months later, the Commission wrote to Magistrate Mizzi reaffirming what it had stated in its previous letter.

On July 18, 2006, the Commission again wrote to Magistrate Mizzi asking what he had done in order to regularise his position but no reply was forthcoming. So in another letter, sent on November 21, it informed him that since he had not reacted, the Commission was calling another meeting with him. This was held on January 15 this year.

Nothing changed during this meeting and the magistrate did not manage to convince the Commission about his position as president of the MBA. On February 22 the Commission wrote to him yet again reaffirming that his position was in breach of the code of ethics and the guidelines. It warned Magistrate Mizzi that since enough time had elapsed, it would take "other action" if he continued to ignore its calls to regularise his position.

On April 1, Magistrate Mizzi wrote to the Commission informing it about proposed amendments to the MBA statute to address the Commission's preoccupations but in its reply on May 22, the Commission said that the MBA's dependency on sponsorships had not been addressed by the proposed amendments.

Since Magistrate Mizzi continued to hold on to his position as MBA president, the Commission wrote back to him on August 7. This letter, which was also sent to Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, was sent to the media last month.

In the concluding paragraph of its latest statement, the Commission described as "serious" the fact that Magistrate Mizzi had not regularised his position.

The statement does not mention or reply to any of the questions The Times sent to the Commission for the Administration of Justice last month asking it to explain what its next step will be.

Following the publication of correspondence sent to them, both Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco and Magistrate Mizzi said they had no intention of resigning their posts as members of the judiciary and as presidents of their respective sports organisations.

Both local and international sports organisations have expressed their support for the judge and magistrate.