The Ministry of Justice will change the Criminal Code to clear the confusion over the meaning of the term "general interdiction" handed down by a criminal court to former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo.

It is the same punishment that was confirmed by an appeal court earlier this month in the case of a number of people found guilty of involvement in the VAT scam.

Some confusion continues to surround the definition of the punishment, which is meted out in criminal and civil cases but for different reasons and with different consequences. Various media reports in connection with the VAT judgment had said those given a general interdiction not only lost their right to hold public office or work with the government but also to buy or sell property or sign contracts.

However, this is not the case, because the only thing mentioned in the Criminal Code is that they lose their right to hold "any public office or employment". They also lose their right to vote because of another clause in the electoral law.

It is only in the civil court that an interdiction includes the other terms that basically reduce a person's legal status to that of a minor.

At the time, the ministry had said there was definitely an "anomaly" that might need to be addressed through a revision of the law.

Legal experts pointed out that in the civil court, the interdiction was generally given to people who were not of sound mind or, as the law crudely puts it, "imbeciles". On the other hand, in the criminal court it is usually meted out to someone who has abused of a public office in some way.

The ministry yesterday said the "anomaly" did not exist in the law itself but rather in the use of the same term "general interdiction" in both the criminal and civil codes.

"This could have been the cause of confusion, particularly whenever sentencing involving the use of this term is not reported accurately in the media or elsewhere. Nevertheless, the ministry is in the process of drafting an amendment to article 119 of the Criminal Code."

The amendment will ensure that there is no confusion between that general interdiction and the one spelled out by the Civil Code, which will continue to mean different things.

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