Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici yesterday denied claims by opposition spokesman Michael Falzon that a container impounded by customs, sold to a commercial company and parked near a school at Corradino contained alarming explosives.

Speaking on the ministry's estimates, Dr Falzon had said the two seized containers were full of fireworks imported from China destined to an Arab nation. They had ended up in the yard of the Civil Protection Department (CPD) after the army wanted payment to keep them at Mosta. Eventually, customs had sold them to the company which did not have a licence to store fireworks.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said these were held at a secluded place at Corradino only for a brief period until bought by a band club. The other container would be moved next Wednesday.

Dr Falzon had earlier called on the government to give better equipment to the CPD, the correctional services, the illegal immigration services and the police corps, which should be treated with greater respect. Communications equipment for the CPD, costing €450,000, was still unused, wasting away in a private garage.

Turning to correctional services, Dr Falzon said one warden had to take care of 50 prisoners. It was not acceptable that some wardens worked 70 hours a week. The overcrowding of inmates at the prison had led to the creation of dormitories.

On illegal immigration, he said the opposition was ready to work with the government to mount a united front. The opposition's plan was still valid. The conditions of those working at the immigrant detention centres were shameful.

The government must give the police corps the necessary facilities to fight ever-more-sophisticated criminals.

It was shameful that 1,473 policemen had had to go to court for their dues under to a 1993 agreement that payment of overtime would be made in excess of 46 hours when time in lieu could not be given.

Members of the Administrative Law Enforcement were well versed in hunting legislation and did not need interference by foreigners.

Concluding, Dr Falzon repeated the opposition's promise that workers in disciplined corps would be allowed to have their union to safeguard their conditions, without the right of strike action.

José Herrera, PL spokesman for justice, said there was nothing in the Budget on the administration of justice, except for projected costs. There was still a conflict of ideology between both parties on this topic, especially where certain cases should be heard. The Arbitration Centre was simply a parallel court to which nobody made voluntary recourse. The original aim of a centre of international excellence in arbitration had gone down the drain. Court sentences had declared the arbitration system as anti-constitutional.

Even the European Court of Human Rights had come down heavily on the international system. On decriminalisation of certain crimes, Dr Herrera said that there should be a limit to putting cases before the Commissioners for Justice, otherwise they would become veritable magistrates. They should not have the power to impose fines of up to €1,000. Tribunals and district courts should hold sessions after hours at the courts, for centralised access to lawyers.

He was worried about the tribunal against corruption, which the government did not seem to be taking seriously. The people had so lost faith in it that only five cases had been instituted over the past two years. Now the government was voting €60,000 for the last remaining two cases to be concluded in 2010. The tribunal's work should be turned over to the magistrates' courts, in a manner to be discussed.

Dr Herrera offered to meet Minister Mifsud Bonnici to discuss new criteria for election to the bench. Valuable experience should not continue to be a barrier to 75 per cent of Maltese lawyers.

There had been eight Constitutional Court sentences against the government for excessive prolongation of court cases. The Commission for the Administration of Justice should roll up its sleeves and tackle its job seriously, rather than deal with petty matters, or be reconstituted.

Concluding, Dr Herrera cautioned against the denaturalising of important posts, such as those of the Chief Justice and the Attorney General. It was not natural for the government to be able to appeal against everything, including sentences.

Winding up the debate, Minister Mifsud Bonnici said the communications system for the CPD had failed to deliver, and a decision would have to be taken on spending more funds for its upgrading or moving it out.

Dormitories at the Correctional Facility were the result of police success against criminality, that resulted in inmates increasing by 100 this year. There was no hope of building a new correctional facility, and something had to be done not to leave delinquents roaming the streets.

The opposition had made no mention of the good work by the CPD or by the police. EU funds had proved invaluable in adding value to all sectors, and more were on the way.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said criminality had decreased by 12 per cent over five years, and by 17 per cent in 10 years.

In the Family Court, children were now better protected through video conferencing and other new measures. The message on domestic violence had yet to filter down, but Malta had one of the best laws anywhere.

The minister disagreed with Dr Herrera on arbitration, saying that the Administrative Law Tribunal had already been active since the beginning of the year. It had 65 cases pending, with 18 tribunals serving under it.

The change in the warrants system had involved some 200 articles of law, but the lack of criticism meant it had been successful.

Statistics on court performance read much better all around. The schedule of deposits system had saved up to 17,000 cases from lengthy court procedures.

Arbitration had proved much quicker, and the Malta Arbitration Centre had already seen its first 14 international cases. Traffic incidents were being decided more quickly.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said decriminalisation was necessary in order to help timely justice. The commissioners for justice were doing a lot of good work.

So was the injustices commission, even though it kept being abused by the opposition. But when it asked to interview detractors they never took the opportunity to defend their criticism. All allegations of corruption were invariably investigated deeply by police without the need of recourse to the commission, but he was ready to consider reform if indicated.

The opposition had been silent for a year and then had made a belated outburst to influence the corruption perception index. The Whistleblower Act would be in place by the end of 2010.

On illegal immigration, Dr Mifsud Bonnici maintained the government had made the right move in going to the House Social Affairs Committee, rather than a specific commission. Even though Malta's immigration problems had started before 2004, its accession to the EU had been a godsend, not least because of the funds in 2009 and the pilot project thanks to the burden-sharing pact.

The government had worked hard on the problem without ever missing the humanitarian aspect. It had always supported Italy but kept insisting on a UNHCR office in Libya to filter prospective migrants. Racism in Malta had increased in recent years only due to the panic that had been kicked up about immigrants.

The UNHCR now understood Malta's situation better. The opposition's 20 points on immigration remained irrelevant because they made no mention of people not deserving refugee status. Not only had the government set up an agency for open centres, but it was now making a single agency for both open and closed centres.

Also contributing to the debate were government MPs Edwin Vassallo, Franco Debono and David Agius.

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