Opposition spokesman on justice José Herrera told Parliament yesterday that the courts had been reduced to a rubber stamp of the VAT department when the government changed the law on fiscal fines cosmetically where a magistrate could accept a court application for pardon only if the VAT director agreed to it.

Fines continued to multiply during the time businessmen spent in prison, meaning the government practised usury

Speaking on the private member’s motion on the judiciary sector presented by Nationalist MP Franco Debono, Dr Herrera said this was unacceptable and was symptomatic of how the Justice Ministry was run.

He agreed with the Leader of the Opposition that businessmen who failed to pay VAT fines should not be sent to prison. He said that when the government changed the law, it eliminated the practice that a presidential pardon could be given to offenders as long as they paid the fines augmented by ten per cent. Fines continued to be multiplied during the time the businessmen spent in prison, meaning that the government itself was practicing usury.

Dr Herrera said that the government’s support to the motion – proposed and seconded by two of its own members – meant that it was acknowledging that there were a number of shortcomings in the justice ministry.

It was accepting that crisis reigned in the Justice and Home Affairs. If the government failed to support the motion it would lead to a lot of confusion.

The government failed in reforming the Corradino Corrective Facility, where the number of inmates who were relapsers increased. The average population in prison increased 700 per cent over the last 25 years to some 600 inmates.

He criticised legislation where the warrants to the Secret Service were no longer issued by the court but by the minister or his representative. This showed that the government did not have trust in the courts.

The experiment for sending minors to the corrective facility had failed. Minors had to be placed in a reformative environment and should not be sent to prison.

Dr Herrera also spoke on commercial litigations and said that forced arbitration had failed with a very low number of cases registered before the court of arbitration.

The courts should have the freedom to appoint mediation experts acceptable to both parties instead of the present practice of having to choose from a list of such experts.

Dr Herrera said that it was time to re-introduce specialised courts to deal with cases of a financial, commercial or maritime nature.

He had always believed it would be beneficial to introduce an administrative court which would scrutinise the executive and act as a watchdog to rein in the state.

A draft administrative code that covered all aspects of good governance was launched a couple of weeks ago.

The Maltese courts had excelled in the criminal, civil and commercial sectors yet had lacked behind in the administrative area.

Malta had the largest number of tribunals and boards ad hoc worldwide. It did not make sense that boards were inter-departmental and appointed by the same minister that the board was meant to scrutinise.

The Bill presented by former Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici was half-baked.

Malta was the only country in Europe that did not have a Supreme Court. At present, due to the large number of cases, the court was divided into different sections of appeal which resulted in conflicting sentences.

Due to the island’s small size, it was not feasible to have a supreme court but he agreed with Chief Justice’s suggestion to have a Superior Court.

He agreed with the trial by jury system since he believed it was positive to share the administration of justice with the people who had no vested interest. However, one had to review the system of jury appointments. In certain cases, mainly relating to money laundering and embezzlement, there should be at least one member of the jury who was qualified.

He did not agree with the fragmentation of tribunals, as in the case of local councils around Malta and Gozo, and believed that these should be more centralised.

As the system is, the accused are deprived of legal counsel.

The opposition had suggested elevating the Gozo Court by introducing a judge – a suggestion the government had indicated it would accept.

Concluding, Dr Herrera said the government had not made any radical changes in the legal sector.

Labour MPs Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Michael Falzon contributed to the debate.