Yanika Barbara and Thomas Sant were convicted of theft before being judged fit for a legal warrant.Yanika Barbara and Thomas Sant were convicted of theft before being judged fit for a legal warrant.

President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has been warned by the Chamber of Advocates not to proceed with issuing law warrants to two students who were found guilty of theft if she wants to avoid creating a “serious precedent”.

At the same time, the Dean of the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta, Kevin Aquilina, criticised the decision of Justice Minister Owen Bonnici to proceed with his recommendation to issue the warrants, stating that he “would prefer to err on the side of caution and withhold granting a warrant, as there are serious implications through its grant”.

After it emerged in March that two law students, Yanika Barbara, 28, of Attard, and Thomas Sant, 30, of Qormi, were going to receive a warrant to practise law despite being found guilty of a criminal act, Dr Bonnici halted the process, saying he had withdrawn the invitation to assess the situation.

However, last week the minister told the Times of Malta he had changed his opinion and decided to give his go-ahead for the warrants, though he acknowledged that there was no agreement with the Chamber of Advocates.

According to Dr Bonnici, once the judges who assessed the students had given their go-ahead despite  being warned by the Chief Justice that the two had a criminal record, it was his duty to grant the warrants.

Once the judges gave the go-ahead, granting the warrants was his duty

The Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure, which regulates the issue of law warrants, states that “no person is entitled to obtain a warrant to practise law unless s/he is of good conduct and good morals”.

Insisting that the panel of judges who gave the green light to the students – Jacqueline Padovani Grima, Wenzu Mintoff, Antonio Mizzi and Joseph R Micallef – made an error, the chamber is also insisting that the same error cannot be used by the minister to justify issuing the warrants.

Contacted by the Times of Malta, chamber president George Hyzler insisted that it had not change its position despite the minister’s latest statement. “In our view, the error committed by the examiners [the judges] is being consciously compounded by the Minister of Justice and the President of Malta and will set a very serious precedent, not only for the legal profession but for all those professions that include a ‘good conduct’ requirement for admission,” he said.

He added: “The chamber stands alone in its efforts to inspire credibility and the public’s confidence in the legal profession.”

Prof. Aquilina said that the incident indicated there was a need for clarity in the law. “If I were the policymaker, I would not release a warrant unless and until these two terms (good conduct and good public morals) were legislatively defined with precision,” he said.

Stressing that what the Justice Minister was advocating might have “serious implications”, Prof Aquilina said that a warrant holder who had been found guilty of theft could apply for a judicial office or carry out quasi-judicial, legal or administrative functions once obtaining the warrant.

“A person who is found guilty of a criminal offence, even if technically not convicted, falls foul of the good morals qualification,” he said.

Court sources told this newspaper that if the warrants were still issued, it was not being excluded that a case might be filed in court challenging the President and Justice Minister’s decision.

President Coleiro Preca is also the chairperson of the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com

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