Retired judge Lawrence Quintano has been nominated to head the Permanent Commission against Corruption, Times of Malta is informed.

Retired magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna and lawyer Yana Micallef Stafrace are also being proposed as members.

The body stopped functioning in November when the previous commission’s term came to an end.

It was set up in the late 1980s with a broad brief to investigate complaints about public sector corruption but it never really made any headway.

Out of about 425 investigations, not a single case was brought to court.

There was an attempt, under the previous administration, to strengthen it with a special prosecutor investigator.

However, in its review of the justice system, a commission headed by former European Court of Human Rights Judge Giovanni Bonello, argued that it would be better to set up a prosecutor general with responsibility for investigating corruption.

Under such a plan, the commission would be disbanded.

The reform report was submitted less than a month after the term of the commission expired.

At first, the government seemed to have postponed nominating new members until it decided what to do about the Bonello recommendations.

However, yesterday, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said the administration was still evaluating the recommendations and felt that it could not leave the commission not constituted while studying the report.

Moreover, if it approved the setting up of a prosecutor general post – a function that would fall under the remit of the Attorney General to an extent – such a far-reaching change would take time.

The administration is still evaluating the recommendations

As the commission’s term was five years, Dr Bonnici said, any changes would take place within that period.

On Friday, the Nationalist Party’s spokesman for home affairs, Jason Azzopardi, criticised the government for taking so long to appoint a new commission.

He was addressing a press conference on the Cafe Premier case, where the government paid its tenants €4.2 million to take back a property in Valletta, which it actually owned.

Dr Azzopardi said the case had a “whiff of corruption” and complained that he was not able to file a report before the commission because it had not yet been constituted.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said he had been consulted about the nominees but would not say whether he backed them.

mmicallef@timesofmalta.com