Complaints on how court experts are chosen and paid, described by lawyers as a “racket”, have reached both the Commission for the Administration of Justice and the Justice Minister but very little seems to have been done to improve the system.

Several complaints on the selection method were made to the Commission in recent years. However, the Commission is not known to have taken any action to address the matter.

On the other hand, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has, so far, failed to introduce the reforms suggested by the Bonello Commission three years ago.

Speaking to this newspaper, DNA specialist Renald Blundell said he personally complained to the Commission several years ago that the selection of court experts by judges and magistrates was being based only on a system of ‘familiarity’ and ‘friendships’.

“A number of DNA experts were appointed by the court even though they do not possess a basic science degree, and to me this is quite worrying,” he said in a letter to the Commission in 2007. “It seems that for the Maltese law courts the qualifications of court experts are not as important as other issues,” he wrote. Dr Blundell admitted he was surprised by the reply he got. “The Commission does not think it should investigate these issues,” was its short reply.

A number of DNA experts were appointed by the court even though they do not possess a basic science degree

The Court of Appeal recently snubbed court expert Martin Bajada, who has been acting as a court expert for some 20 years though he had a criminal record. This newspaper is informed the Commission has also received complaints about this case.

“The Commission has so far ignored complaints on Dr Bajada, even though these were officially made two years ago. Dr Bonnici was also informed and he too has done nothing,” a court official said.

The court-appointed experts who approached this newspaper on the condition of anonymity said certain members of the judiciary repeatedly appointed the same people. “If you see a list of who appoints whom, you will immediately notice certain patterns,” said an architect who also serves as a court expert.

“One magistrate kept appointing as expert a person from whom she purchases clothing,” a lawyer claimed.

“One judge appoints as expert a person he often goes to lunch with,” a police inspector said. “The problem is that, despite the fact that these stories are known by everyone in the corridors of the law courts, no one seems to be able to do anything to stop this racket,” the officer added.

Judges and magistrates enjoy absolute discretion when appointing experts. Experts’ fees, running into hundreds of thousands a year, are forked out through public coffers. This newspaper reported last week that the expert with a criminal record had been paid €500,000 over the past six years for his court-related work.

A request by this newspaper for the Justice Ministry to furnish information on the court experts appointed over the past five years has not been met yet. Two weeks ago, the Times of Malta asked the ministry to supply a list of court experts appointed since 2011, who appointed them and the amount of payments made. No reply was forthcoming by the time of writing.

When contacted, Dr Bonnici’s spokeswoman asked this newspaper to send a reminder. When it was pointed out that three reminders had already been sent, she replied: “Don’t worry, send another one.”

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com