Maltese workers take more than 1.5 million hours of vacation leave every year to attend court sittings, according to a report conducted by the Government’s Management Efficiency Unit.

Civil cases take an average of 1,133 days to be decided or 1,375 days if the appeal stage is included

This means that the Maltese have to use up an average of five per cent of their vacation leave to spend time wading through the country’s notoriously inefficient court system.

It also emerges that the Government receives an average of €267 in fees and fines for each court case heard but its overall costs are significantly higher in all cases.

Small claims cases cost the Government an average of €549 each.

Criminal cases cost €391 each but this skyrockets to €2,601 when the appeals stage is considered.

Similarly, civil cases cost €1,203, a total that goes up to €3,112 when including the appeals stage.

Released on the television programme Bondiplus yesterday evening, these latest figures continue to paint a picture of mismanagement in the court system.

Last week, the country learnt it would take eight years to clear the court’s backlog if no new cases were filed tomorrow.

Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Owen Bonnici is currently on a mission to reform the law courts.

As well as setting up a Commission for Justice Reform to provide specific recommendations and carry out consultation sessions with the public, Dr Bonnici also tasked the MEU with examining the legal system.

The unit’s subsequent report found that more than 45 per cent of the approximately 16,000 criminal cases that are yet to be decided have been pending for 10 years or more.

It also revealed that criminal cases take an average of 3,375 days to be decided, including the appeal stage, which amounts to more than nine years.

Civil cases take an average of 1,133 days to be decided or 1,375 days if the appeal stage is included.