Judge accuses Abela of 'caring more about money than independent judiciary'

Updated 12.50pm

Judge Wenzu Mintoff accused Robert Abela of “caring more about money than an independent judiciary” and described a private WhatsApp conversation he had with the prime minister in an explosive five-page letter sent to all ministers this week.

The letter also alleges that Abela told him that Lawrence Gonzi “made a mistake in appointing George Abela (his father) president”  and that he could not appoint Mintoff as chief justice because that would be seen as capitulating to the Nationalist Party and strengthening Opposition leader Alex Borg.

It ends with a demand that Abela recuse himself from any talks concerning the appointment of the next chief justice.

Times of Malta exclusively revealed on Tuesday that cabinet members were left stunned by Mintoff’s letter, which landed in their inboxes on Monday morning.

The letter, which Times of Malta has seen, makes a number of allegations about Abela and the jockeying to fill the chief justice post.

Among the allegations:

• Abela had, in his time as a lawyer and Labour MP, pressured the judge’s staff to increase the taxable amount owed in a case he was involved in, to allow him to bump up his [Abela’s] compensation by “thousands” of euro.
• When the worker stood firm, Abela threatened to have her sacked and implied Judge Mintoff had colluded with then-President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca to keep the taxable amount down.
• Abela told him he wants to delay appointing a new chief justice until after the next general election.
• Abela first told Mintoff he could not appoint him chief justice because that would make Opposition leader Alex Borg look good while also upsetting Labour diehards.
• Abela later told him that the PN really had another person in mind for chief justice, but that person was intensely disliked by all lawyers.
• Mintoff was extremely irked by Labour’s publication arm releasing a biography about his uncle, Dom Mintoff, and wanted Abela to suppress its publication. The book, which he did not mention by name, is Mark Montebello’s The Tail That Wagged the Dog.

Mintoff appears to have first emailed cabinet secretary Ryan Spagnol on Friday, February 20 before following up with a subsequent email forwarded to all cabinet members on Monday morning, noting that his initial email went unacknowledged.

President Myriam Spiteri Debono was also sent a copy of his letter.  

Lobbying for chief justice

Mintoff’s dispute with the prime minister, which has now burst into the public eye, appears to centre around events that occurred on February 11.

That day, Mintoff met with Abela at the latter’s request.

The Nationalist Party had at the time proposed Mintoff as one of four potential nominees to succeed Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti, who turned 68 earlier this month and must therefore retire.

But the Labour government has instead backed other nominees, despite Mintoff’s historic ties to the party.

In Mintoff’s recounting of that February 11 meeting and a WhatsApp conversation that followed it, Abela’s justification for not nominating Mintoff changed.

Initially, it was about not giving in to an Opposition nominee and upsetting Labour diehards while growing Alex Borg’s stature. Then, Abela told him that the PN was actually using Mintoff and other nominees as a ploy to get another, unnamed judge nominated to the post. And finally, Abela told Mintoff that he was simply too old for the post.

Mintoff, 66, would serve for less than two years if appointed chief justice.

Mintoff said he pushed back, telling Abela he should call the PN’s bluff, that his father George was nominated president by the Nationalist government and that former chief justice Joe Azzopardi was his same age when he was appointed.

Abela, in turn, told him that he wanted the chief justice issue delayed until after the next general election, that Lawrence Gonzi had “made a mistake” in appointing his father president and that he had never been in favour of Azzopardi’s appointment.

Abela's pressure in Paqpaq case

But, Mintoff wrote, the real reason Abela did not want him as chief justice was due to two other incidents, one which predated his time as prime minister.

Abela, he wrote, had pressured one of his court’s staff members because he wanted to get a bigger payday out of the Paqpaqli Għall Istrina case.

Dozens of people were injured in the 2015 incident when a racing car crashed into spectators at an event organised by the Office of the President.

Abela, at the time a criminal lawyer and backbench Labour MP, was representing one of the victims, in a case being heard by Judge Mintoff.

Mintoff alleges that Abela was “putting great pressure on one of my workers and on court registry workers” because the fees owed in the case had been listed at the statutory minimum, because the compensation deal was settled out of court and not during proceedings.

Abela’s compensation as a lawyer hinged on that calculation, the judge wrote, and the difference amounted to thousands of euro.

He had even asked parliamentary questions, trying to fish out the total amount of compensation paid to Paqpaq victims, the judge wrote. 

Times of Malta was unable to identify any PQs filed by Abela about the issue. The only questions about the matter asked that legislature were by PN MP Mario Galea and PD MP Godfrey Farrugia, who both queried Finance Minister Edward Scicluna about compensation on November 26, 2018.

The judge alleged that in his desperation, Abela threatened to have his court worker sacked and also alleged that he [Judge Mintoff] was in cahoots with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca to cap the court fees at the minimum.

“Accusing a judge of being complicit with a party in a case is one of the most serious things a judge can be accused of,” Judge Mintoff wrote. “But for Dr Abela, money was more important than judicial independence.”

The judge said that months later, after Abela was appointed prime minister, he had raised the dispute with him. Abela told him it was all water under the bridge.

The Mintoff biography

The judge also had a second bone to pick with Abela: one concerning a biography about his uncle Dom, which was published by the Labour Party's publishing arm.

That book - which Mintoff does not cite by name - was Mark Montebello's The Tail That Wagged The Dog. It was received extremely poorly by the Mintoff family, which accused the author of "hearsay and lies". 

The book depicted Dom Mintoff as a serial cheater and philanderer who, among other things, had also had a tryst with his brother's wife - the judge's mother. 

In his letter to ministers, the judge said he objected to the book because it contained an "outright lie... that unjustly accused a now-deceased relative of committing a crime". 

The letter does not elaborate on the crime in question. 

Judge Mintoff reveals he had tried to have the book withdrawn from bookshelves, but Abela had demurred and said he had no control over the publisher. 

The judge said he then asked Abela to make a public apology about the book and pledge to donate its proceeds to charity. 

"But Abela kept playing with words and wasn't even capable of doing that," he said.