Justice Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici told Parliament talks had started in earnest between the police, the court and the Attorney General to reform the present system on the compilation of evidence in criminal cases.
Dr Bonnici, who was speaking during the second reading of a Bill introducing tougher penalties for offences against public officers, said that concrete proposals had already been submitted.
He disagreed with the proposed amendment to exclude probation in such cases and to restrict the discretionary powers of the court to be lenient in special and extraordinary reasons. Such provisions fell within the principle of restorative justice and the proposed amendment went against such spirit.
Dr Bonnici said that one of the proposals to shorten the time for the compilation of evidence during the investigative process was to adopt the paper committal system where evidence was taken in writing and copied to the defence lawyers.
This saved a lot of time because, as things stood, witnesses had to give the same evidence three times.
The government agreed that a message be sent to society that offences against public officers would not be tolerated but Dr Bonnici said he wondered how the previous Administration did not find the time to move such simple amendments in 25 years of office.
He said that upon taking office, he gave top priority to the reform of the law courts as a European Commission report recommended that the problem of delays in court cases should be addressed.
The first decision had been to appoint the Bonello Commission, which had now concluded its work. Decisions had to be taken on what proposals to implement and the costings involved.
Another proposal to speed up criminal court proceedings in the Bonello report dealt with the appointment of a General Prosecutor for the compilation of evidence. At present, this role could be fulfilled by the Commissioner of Police.
The majority of the proposals in the Bonello report were very good, while others had to be worked out in greater detail, Dr Bonnici said.