Civil Court judgment

I am directed to refer to the article published on January 31 on The Times entitled Magistrate Abstains In Case Involving The Chief Justice.

The writer towards the end of the article refers to a judgment delivered by the First Hall of the Civil Court presided over by Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco on January 22, 2008, in the civil case instituted by Maria Dolores Debono against the Attorney General and in the article it was reported that Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco referred to his personal issue while handing down the judgment.

One of the aspects dealt with in the said judgment was confidentiality and secrecy in the proceedings conducted before the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

Referring to such procedures the court noted, in translation, that:

"The Attorney General insisted that from the moment a complaint is filed all proceedings are held in camera and normally the report is read in camera. The Attorney General insisted that everything is confidential. Apart from the fact that the court is rather perplexed as to how the Attorney General is forwarding this line of reasoning knowing that the commission sometimes issued press releases regarding cases being held before it, this court cannot take into consideration procedures before the commission once, from their own very nature, such procedures cannot form part of any evidence indicating whether there exists any violation of fundamental rights...".

The wording of the judgment as above reported clearly indicates that at no stage did Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco refer to his personal case. It is thus misleading to state that the court was making reference to any personal issue it may have had while delivering its judgement.

While understanding that the public has a right to be informed of decisions being taken by the courts of Malta, the public also has a right to be informed correctly of such decisions, without any allusions or inferences drawn up by persons drafting the report included in such reportage.

It is augured that these clarifications would be taken up by the persons concerned and such incidents avoided.