Antoine Agius Bonnici, Philip Galea Farrugia, Jean Paul Grech, Anne Marie Thake and Nadia Helena Vella are to be sworn in as magistrates after they were selected from among 31 applicants who expressed interest in a call.

The public call for expressions of interest was made on October 13.

The committee then evaluated the candidates who applied on the basis of the constitution and its own guidelines before making its recommendations to the President of the Republic.

Two applications were eventually withdrawn and one was not eligible, bringing the number of applicants down to 28.

The recommendations were unanimous. The most prominent name appears to be Philip Galea Farrugia, who has served as deputy attorney general since January 2020. Antone Agius Bonnici is another AG lawyer. He prosecutes financial crime cases.

Other shortlisted candidates

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

They were Graziella Bezzina, Monica Borg Galea, Abigail Caruana Vella, Marouska Debono, Joseph Ellis, Maria Karlsson, Danielle Pace Gima, Elizabeth Quintano, Ilona Schembri, and Claudio Zammit. 

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