MP silent on voting plans

Rebel backbencher and criminal lawyer Franco Debono has refused to deny speculation that he may vote against the government in the debate on the Justice Ministry’s budget allocation tomorrow.

The amendments by the Justice Minister don’t get to the heart of problems

Dr Debono declined to comment and said he would only speak about his voting intentions during Friday’s parliamentary sitting.

He however slammed the government’s approach to judicial matters. “The vision of justice is lacking. The criminal code amendments presented by the Justice Minister last week don’t get to the heart of problems,” Dr Debono said.

“Two of the most fundamental issues missing are the appointment of judges and magistrates and the Attorney General’s role in the justice system.

“Though I and others have diagnosed the illness, the Bill still manages to get the cure wrong.”

It made no sense, he said, to provide for special investigative magistrates – something he had been campaigning for – but then place them under the authority of the Chief Justice, keeping them within the judicial branch of government.

“Investigating is one thing, adjudicating is another. They should be kept separate. Where is the separation of powers?”

There was similar criticism for the government’s proposal to grant the Attorney General the discretion to decide whether or not to give those caught using drugs for the first time a formal warning.

“If we want to extend the Attorney General’s already-wide discretionary powers, then we should also require the AG to give reasons for the decisions which a court could enquire into,” Dr Debono said.

“Otherwise we’ll end in a situation in which the AG is given a carte blanche to treat similar cases differently without having to give a justification for it,” he continued.

Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici’s proposals to increase sentences for prostitution and human trafficking offences received further flak.

“Are the higher maximum punishments really going to serve as a deterrent, or solve any of the problems – health, drug, or relating to human rights – which prostitution brings about? Using the example of drug trafficking, he posed a rhetorical question: “Has introducing life sentences for traffickers really served its purpose?”

By raising sentences but not acknowledging and legislating for these problems, the government risked “driving prostitution further underground and exacerbating existing problems.”

Asked whether he felt the criminal amendment proposals were a frantic reaction to his own private member’s bill on judicial matters, Dr Debono was unequivocal: “Have you got any doubt?”

Saying he felt “disappointed and hurt” by the Minister’s decision not to consult the PN parliamentary group before presenting last Monday’s amendments Bill, Dr Debono suggested an alternative approach which, he felt, would better serve the judicial system. “We need a national conference bringing together lawyers, members of the judiciary, parliamentarians and all relevant stakeholders in which we can work at tackling problems rather than just paying them lip service and providing superficial solutions. The system needs to be treated in a holistic way,” he said.