Justice Minister Owen Bonnici this morning dismissed a call made by the Dean of the Faculty of Laws to refer the nomination of lawyer of Caroline Farrugia Frendo for Magistrate to the judicial watchdog, saying the government was acting on the Advice of the Attorney General.
Dr Bonnici was reacting to a story published today in The Times of Malta which quoted constitutional expert and faculty dean Kevin Aquilina who raised doubts about Dr Farrugia Frendo’s nomination .
The newspaper quoted members from the Commission of the Administration of Justice who raised doubts whether Dr Farrugia Frendo’s time as court attorney should be included as part of the seven-year period of legal practice required by the Constitution before lawyers can become magistrates.
The ministry yesterday stood by its view that the work as court attorney served as service as lawyer (See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20160215/local/another-constitutional-stumbling-block-over-nominee-for-magistrate.602518 )
Prof Aquilina told this newspaper that this could be a “grey area”. He said that the Commission should be asked for its advice which would then be referred to the President for a final decision.
Asked for his reaction at the end of a news conference, Dr Bonnici this morning noted that whenever there had been doubts, most recently the nomination of lawyer Ingrid Zammit Young for magistrate, he had not hesitated to seek the Commission’s advice.
“In this case [Dr Farrugia Frendo] there are no doubts,” the Justice Minister said.
He added that he was “comforted” by the Attorney General’s advice on the matter. Dr Bonnici pointed out that court attorneys were prohibited from performing private practice but not precluded from working as a lawyer.
“A Court Attorney is still practising his or her legal profession,” he said.
Reacting to the possibility of Dr Farrugia Frendo’s court rulings being nullified if her appointment was to be challenged successfully before of the Constitutional Court, Dr Bonnici said that two sitting members of the judiciary had spent some years as full-time judiciary assistants.
“Judicial assistants and court attorneys have an analogous role,” he said.
Asked if he would be nominating somebody else instead of Dr Zammit Young who had withdrawn her nomination, the Justice Minister said he excluded nothing.
Meanwhile Dr Bonnici this morning presided the signing of an agreement between the International Organisation for Migration and the Irish Ambassador Padraig MacCoscair. This six-month project is aimed to train members of the judiciary and the Attorney General’s Office in dealing with cases of human trafficking.
This will involve a thorough analysis of judgments involving such cases with the aim of highlighting any particular trends. The results would then be discussed in a two-day seminar.