In three years: 14 new judges and magistrates, 10 of them linked directly to the Labour Party
This government has made 14 appointments to the bench in three years, 10 of whom are connected directly to the Labour Party. The other four are Judge Giovanni Grixti (formerly a magistrate), Judge Edwin Grima (formerly a magistrate), Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech (formerly at the Attorney-General’s Office), and Magistrate Aaron Bugeja (formerly in private practice).
There is another appointment still pending, which should have been approved at the same time as Toni Abela’s but for some reason has not yet been: the elevation of Consuelo Herrera from magistrate to judge. This, too, is an appointment directly linked to the Labour Party – her brother Jose Herrera is a member of the cabinet of government. Herrera was made a magistrate 20 years ago, while still in her early 30s, by Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant during his brief, 22-month stint in government.
That last Labour government’s appointments to the bench were not as numerous but just as bad: Judge Patrick Vella (imprisoned for taking bribes from a drug-trafficker), Judge Ray Pace (hanged himself when he was confronted with recorded evidence that he had taken payments from criminals), Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco (Commission for the Administration of Justice moved for his impeachment; Prime Minister Muscat used delaying tactics in parliament until the judge reached official retirement age), Magistrate Consuelo Herrera (disciplined by the Commission for the Administration of Justice after years of consorting with politicians and having an affair with a senior prosecutor/police official), Magistrate Miriam Hayman (embroiled in the scandal which led to the resignation of the Police Commissioner George Grech).
The following are the Labour-Party-linked appointments which the current government has made.
Judge Antonio Mizzi, elevated from his previous post as magistrate: he is married to long-time Labour Party activist and Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi
Magistrate Joanne Vella Cuschieri: a Labour Party candidate in the 2013 general election, who failed to be elected; her close friendship with Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, who appointed her, led to the first rupture in his marriage, which then broke down permanently when he was discovered to have been seeing Labour Party TV reporter Janice Bartolo
Magistrate Grazio Mercieca (1st on right): 1980s Labour Party election candidate, now chief of staff to Gozo Minister Anton Refalo (1st on left). Also in picture (centre): the Chief Justice, Silvio Camilleri, who sits on the committee that is supposed to have vetted Mercieca’s nomination for the bench
Magistrate Consuelo Herrera, set to be made a judge: she campaigned for Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party prior to 2013, and has hosted regular parties for Labour politicians and employees of the party’s television station. Her brother is a member of the cabinet of government
Magistrate Charmaine Galea: associate in the law office of Labour Party deputy leader Toni Abela, who has himself been made a judge
Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo, daughter of the Labour Party’s long-time deputy leader and MP, Anglu Farrugia, who himself accepted a corrupt appointment as Speaker of the House in return for keeping his mouth shut about illicit funding activities he witnessed at the Labour Party’s HQ before the general election
Magistrate Joe Mifsud: international secretary of the Labour Party and long-time staffer on the Labour Party’s official newspaper, KullHadd
Judge Miriam Hayman, embroiled in the scandal that led to the resignation of then Police Commissioner George Grech; appointed magistrate by Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant after years of working with former Labour Minister Joe Brincat
Magistrate Monica Vella, a local councillor elected on the Labour Party ticket
Judge Toni Abela, seen here with his then fellow Labour Party deputy leader Anglu Farrugia and John Dalli, consultant to Prime Minister Muscat, at a Labour Party meeting: Abela was deputy leader of the Labour Party until February, when he was obliged to step down to make way for Konrad Mizzi. His appointment as judge is compensation for having been rejected by the European Court of Auditors.
Judge Wenzu Mintoff – former Labour MP, nephew of Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, Labour Party activist over many years, Labour-government-appointed chairman of the Malta Development Corporation, and right up until his appointment to the bench, editor of the Labour Party’s official newspaper, KullHadd.