The Gozo court administration budget ran out a year ago, according to one expert. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Experts appointed by the Gozo courts have not been paid for their services for many years, leading them to refuse to submit their reports.

The situation was flagged in a passing comment made by the Judiciary in their reaction to the first consultation document prepared by the Commission on the Holistic Reform of the Justice System.

The payment backlog and the resulting boycott was causing long delays in cases that required expert reports to proceed, sources told Times of Malta.

Several court experts contacted by this newspaper confirmed they had not been paid for years, some saying they had pending bills dating to 2007.

One expert, who said he could not bring himself to refuse a commission when called by judges or magistrates themselves, said he often did the job anyway, knowing full well he would not get paid.

“The administration of the Gozo courts simply do not understand that we are paying tax on each invoice we submit, whether we get paid or not.

“They keep telling us that money was not budgeted for the experts’ fees but I think this is unacceptable,” one expert said.

He said he had been told that about a year ago the Gozo court administration budget had been used, so they had to dig into funds allocated to court experts to pay allowances and performance bonuses to employees.

Run-of-the-mill reports normally cost anywhere between €100 and €600, while more complex research can cost as much as €1,000 per report.

They keep telling us that money was not budgeted for the experts’ fees

Beyond the problem of payments, the judiciary complained there were not enough court experts in Malta or Gozo, exacerbating the case backlog issue.

In most cases, there are no more than one to two experts available in any given field. Moreover, they are often deployed on “unnecessary” inquiries.

The problem with court experts is not new.

A commission set up in 2001 by then justice minister Austin Gatt had submitted a number of recommendations to improve the system.

This commission had also commented on the lack of experts in certain fields, especially those concerning data examination, calligraphy, counterfeit documents, fingerprints, cyber crime, fore-nsic dentistry, toxicology and forensic accountancy,.

It had suggested setting up a register of court experts, which members of the judiciary could consult before choosing who to appoint in different cases.

It had also recommended the setting up of a board to manage the register.

Questions sent to the Parliamentary Secretary for Justice, Owen Bonnici, on the subject remained unanswered at the time of writing.

Among other things, Times of Malta asked for the short-term measures that will be taken to get experts’ reports submitted and the court cases proceeding again.