Wenzu Mintoff.

Wenzu Mintoff, a staunch Labour activist and until recently the editor of Labour Party newspaper Kullħadd, will today be sworn in as a judge.

The announcement was made by the government after a decision taken by the Cabinet.

Several experienced lawyers, not involved in politics, questioned the suitability for the judiciary of someone seen as “partisan”.

Another question raised was whether Dr Mintoff had the necessary experience required by the Constitution to take up the post, with a parallel being drawn with the nomination in 2002 of respected lawyer André Camilleri.

Dr Camilleri was turned down by the Commission for the Administration of Justice because he was not deemed to have enough experience. The Constitution states that “a person shall not be qualified to be appointed a judge of the superior courts unless for a period of, or periods amounting to, no less than 12 years he has either practised as an advocate in Malta or served as a Magistrate in Malta, or has partly so practised and partly so served”.

It seems that Owen Bonnici’s talk about justice reforms is just lip service

The government is not obliged to consult the commission before appointing a judge.

One lawyer yesterday told Times of Malta that what applied to Dr Camilleri should apply to others.

“I have been practising daily at the law courts for the past 20 years and I’m not sure that I’ve seen Wenzu Mintoff practising as a lawyer more than twice,” he exclaimed.

However, when contacted, Dr Mintoff said he had been a lawyer since 1984 and practised at the courts throughout the years. “I only stopped practising as a lawyer when Alan Camilleri became chairman of Malta Enterprise [in 2008],” he said.

Dr Mintoff has until now been employed in the legal department at Malta Enterprise and previously at Malta Development Corporation but sources said in his 20 years of service he was never involved in litigation cases in the courts.

Asked whether he felt that his nomination was a partisan one and whether he was seen to have the necessary impartiality to occupy this sensitive office, he said he was precluded from making comments as a member of the judiciary.

The Nationalist Party also questioned the appointment. Justice spokesman Beppe Fenech Adami said: “Appointing a judge who until yesterday was actively militating in partisan politics does not augur well for the necessary respect of the judiciary. It seems that Owen Bonnici’s talk and publications about justice reforms are just lip service.”

Dr Mintoff is a former Labour MP who had left the party in the late 1980s to co-found Alternattiva Demokratika alongside Toni Abela, who is now Labour’s deputy leader.

‘Partisan’ questions

He unsuccessfully contested several general elections for the Greens before returning to the Labour fold and contesting the MEP elections on behalf of the party in 2004. He has served in several official roles within Labour, the latest as editor of its newspaper.

Lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed surprise at the nomination. “A person with such a recent partisan baggage should never have been made a member of the judiciary. Until a few weeks ago he was on radio defending the Labour government and bashing the Opposition. How can he be seen as impartial,” a practising commercial lawyer asked.

A 55-year-old lawyer who practises criminal law said this was not a good omen for the reform of the judiciary. “The government is once again confirming that it does not really believe in what it preaches. Reforms appear nice on paper but actions are speaking louder than words,” he said.

Another lawyer in the industrial field said such nominations had become the order of the day.

“If you see what is happening in the industrial tribunal, where the chairpersons nominated by this government are almost all people close to the General Workers’ Union, the writing has long been on the wall. It seems that this is the new way of doing politics,” he remarked.

Since its return to power, Labour has appointed six members of the judiciary.

Among them are the promotion of former magistrate Antonio Mizzi, the husband of Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi, to judge, and the appointment of Labour candidate Joanne Vella Cuschieri as a magistrate.