PN wants Edwina Grima for Chief Justice
Alex Borg told Robert Abela there are three other judges he would also accept in the role
Updated 12.06pm with Alex Borg at San Anton
The Opposition wants Judge Edwina Grima to take on the role of Chief Justice, Times of Malta can confirm.
Sources close to talks involving the Nationalist and Labour parties said Opposition leader Alex Borg proposed Grima for the role in a meeting with Robert Abela earlier this month.
Borg is understood to have also said his party would also back three other judges to assume leadership of the judiciary, should agreement on Grima not be possible.
The other three judges proposed are Francesco Depasquale, Anthony Ellul and Lawrence Mintoff.
Outgoing Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti turns 68 on Wednesday, making this the final day of his six-year tenure. While technically a chief justice remains in office until a replacement is appointed, a ruling by parliament's Speaker means the post will effectively be vacant unless parliament votes on Wednesday to keep Chetcuti there provisionally.
His successor needs a two-thirds parliamentary majority to be approved, but the government and the opposition are still far from agreeing on a name.
On Wednesday morning, the opposition leader arrived at San Anton palace for a short meeting with President Myriam Spiteri Debono amid the standoff. It was not immediately confirmed if the meeting was related.
The government has nominated judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera to the role and gone public with that decision, but the Opposition has said it will not support her appointment.
On Tuesday, the government attempted to move a motion in parliament for her nomination, but the Opposition shot it down.
Why Grima?
Madam Justice Edwina Grima, who is the president of the criminal court, is widely regarded as one of Malta’s most "no-nonsense" and rigorous judges, frequently assigned to the country's most high-profile and sensitive criminal trials.
In June last year she delivered a judgment sentencing brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, Jamie Vella, and George Degiorgio to life in prison. The "Maksar gang" trial dismantled a criminal network that provided the car bomb used to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.
Before the Maksar trial, Justice Grima presided over the trial of Alfred and George Degiorgio, Caruana Galizia’s hitmen, during which, after a dramatic last-minute guilty plea, she sentenced both brothers to 40 years in prison.
She is also dealing with freezing orders involving former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and high-ranking officials in the Vitals and Steward case.
And in 2024, she issued a sweeping blanket ban on public discussion and social media commentary regarding the trial of alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech.
Aged 56, she is younger than other nominees and would, if nominated, serve as chief justice for almost 12 years.
A vacant seat
On Tuesday evening, Speaker Anglu Farrugia ruled that the constitutional provision allowing the sitting Chief Justice to stay on can only apply if there is a vote on a replacement on or before his 68th birthday- the age when all judiciary members, including a Chief Justice, must retire.
A constitutional provision allows the chief justice to stay on if a parliamentary resolution with his replacement does not attain the needed two-thirds majority. But for that provision to apply, there needs to be a vote, Farrugia ruled.
At the same time, Farrugia ruled that the government cannot force a vote on Wednesday (Chetcuti’s birthday) because they need to give the Oopposition at least three days' notice.
Farrugia explained what his ruling means to Times of Malta.
“If a vote isn't taken by tonight [Wednesday], the role of chief justice is made vacant and an acting chief justice must be appointed”.
The Speaker’s decision came after government whip Naomi Cachia proposed a vote on appointing Consuelo Scerri Herrera as chief justice.
Cachia’s opposite number, PN whip Robert Cutajar, objected, meaning that the standing orders of parliament had to be followed to the letter.
Those standing orders say that the government needs to give three days' notice before they call a parliamentary vote.
Provisions allowing exceptions did not apply in this case, Speaker Farrugia’s ruling says.