Over 1,700 magisterial inquiries pending

If justice delayed is justice denied, the number of pending magisterial inquires should set alarm bells ringing: There were 1,769 before 14 magistrates at the end of May, according to statistics released by the Justice Ministry.

Responding to questions by The Sunday Times, the ministry was not able to say how long the inquiries have been pending. But given the scale of the backlog some are likely to have been on the backburner for years.

The magistrate with the largest inquiry backlog, Joseph Apap Bologna, has 372 to his name, which accounts for 21 per cent of the total.

To deal with them all by the time he reaches the retirement age of 65, he must conclude approximately seven a month.

Michael Mallia has 259 pending inquiries (14.6 per cent of the total), Giovanni Grixti has 231 (13 per cent), Miriam Hayman has 187 (10.6 per cent), Tonio Micallef Trigona has 156 (8.8 per cent) and Anthony Vella has 116 (6.6 per cent).

The magistrate with the least inquiries pending is Edwina Grima, with 28. But she was only appointed in 2007.

The figures put in perspective a series of high-profile inquiries which have been pending for months.

Among those recently highlighted were the probe into the death of Nicholas Azzopardi, who alleged on his deathbed that he was beaten and thrown off the bastions by police officers when under arrest last April.

And there is the equally-disquieting incident of Bastjan Borg, who a year ago was shot dead by police officers after he allegedly turned violent during an attempt to arrest him.

When asked about the status of the inquiry involving Mr Azzopardi's allegation, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he had no information on the case since the law prohibited any interference from the minister.

Concerned about the scale of the pending caseload, however, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said he was looking into reforming the system governing inquiries.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici would not be drawn on the performance of particular magistrates, though he said it was clear that some could apply more "vigour" when it came to their workload.

"I will not point fingers but we are looking at reforming the way things are done. We're not at all happy with the situation... it's untenable and, besides, the administration cannot keep getting criticised for inquiries into serious cases which take ages to conclude," he said.