Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras and lawyers Mark Simiana and Henri Mizzi are to be sworn in as judges, the Office of the President said on Wednesday. 

The three were selected for the post from among 17 applicants who expressed interest in a public call for expressions of interest made on July 11.

All three nominees were unanimously recommended to the President by a judicial appointments committee tasked with assessing candidates, using the constitution its own guidelines as the basis for those recommendations. 

Galea Sciberras, who became a magistrate in October 2012, and Simiana made it to a shortlist to be judges in late 2022.

Mizzi served as one of Malta's leading corporate lawyers and as a partner at legal firm Camilleri Preziosi.

Simiana, together with former chief justice Joseph Azzopardi, had been tasked with investigating media reports that the MFSA's former CEO Joseph Cuschieri and MFSA lead lawyer Edwina Licari travelled to Las Vegas with casino owner Yorgen Fenech, who arranged and paid for the trip. Fenech was later arrested and accused of complicity in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. 

Other suitable candidates named

The judicial appointments committee agreed that the chosen three were the most suited, but also listed other candidates who it considered suitable for the appointment.

They were Magistrates Charmaine Galea and Claire Stafrace Zammit and lawyers Franca Giordmaina, Jean Paul, Simone Grech and Ann Marie Thake.