The justice ministry has appointed an administrative board to review the procedures surrounding exhibits filed in court after items went missing from the court strongroom.
The ministry said in a statement the board was given two months to analyse the current system and submit a report with recommendations on how it can be enhanced.
The statement was issued after Times of Malta revealed on Friday how another laptop exhibited as evidence in a case against a car dealer charged with money laundering went missing from court.
A magistrate has ordered the Court Services Agency CEO and the registrar to explain.
The Court Services Agency separately said it was cooperating with the police and the administrative board of review appointed by the justice ministry to examine the custody of evidence in its strongroom.
The latest crucial piece of evidence to go missing had been exhibited in January 2022 by the Financial Crimes Investigations Department but when officers went to retrieve it to present it as evidence in a different but related case, this could not be found.
This came to light during the compilation of evidence against two women – Jessica Sciberras Azzopardi and Marie Therese Attard – who stand charged with aiding and abetting money laundering. The prosecution informed the court that a Lenovo laptop linked to the case could not be found after it had been presented as evidence in the case against car dealer Bernard Attard, 33, of Żebbuġ who stands charged with misappropriating €1.2 million, fraud and money laundering.
This missing item follows the disappearance of another laptop belonging to Marsaxlokk parish priest Luke Seguna, who is facing fraud charges.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party has called for Justice Minister Jonathan Attard to shoulder political responsibility for the missing laptops, demanding his resignation.
PN justice spokesperson Karol Aquilina said: “Our law courts are in crisis and on the verge of collapse. Jonathan Attard must shoulder political responsibility for the state of the law courts and resign,” he said.
He also called for the setting up of a justice parliamentary committee that would be able to summon the minister and employees of the Court Services Agency and scrutinise their actions.