The oath of office of four new magistrates had to be postponed at the eleventh hour on Thursday after it emerged that there was an issue with one of the new appointees that may have precluded him from becoming magistrate.
The matter is now being reviewed by the judicial appointments committee and the swearing-in has been pencilled in for Wednesday.
Sources said the issue revolved around a criminal case instituted in the Ivory Coast against one of the new magistrates, Kevan Azzopardi, in his previous role as official receiver at the Malta Business Registry.
It is not clear whether the criminal case has been decided and it is also unclear whether Azzopardi had informed the Judicial Appointments Committee about the issue.
Azzopardi, as well as lawyers Gianella Camilleri Busuttil, Abigail Critien and Joseph Gatt are to be sworn in as magistrates.
Details about the case involving Azzopardi are sparse. According to court documents, Azzopardi instituted a case before Mr Justice Ian Spiteri Bailey in April last year in which he was requesting the court’s protection as liquidator of the company Pefaco International Plc after two of its shareholders filed proceedings against him in the Ivory Coast.
Azzopardi told the court that this was a clear attempt to intimidate him so that he does not fulfil his duties as official receiver according to law and in the execution of the assignment given to him by the court.
The court heard how Azzopardi was facing criminal proceedings as well as a personal claim of €750,000 following a case filed against him by two of the directors of a company of which he had been appointed as liquidator. This may also lead to an international arrest warrant.
The court heard how Pefaco International plc had concluded a process by which it offered its shares on the Malta Stock Exchange and a number of investors acquired shares with an investment of around €15 million with which they acquired 30% of Pefaco's equity package.
The minority investors who acquired the shares of the dissolved company through the Malta Stock Exchange acquired the right to elect the directors of the dissolved company, which they actually did.
However, two majority directors continued to take decisions as if the minority shareholders did not exist, leading the court to order its dissolution, and appointing Azzopardi as liquidator.
But at one point, Azzopardi received a communication from a lawyer representing the majority shareholders who insisted that to be recognised as liquidator and representative of the dissolved company within the countries where it operated, particularly in the Ivory Coast, they needed to file a procedure through which the judgment of the Maltese Courts would be re-executed and Azzopardi appointed as liquidator.
Last February, Azzopardi was informed that criminal proceedings had been initiated in the Ivory Coast. He told the court that these proceedings were aimed at causing him fear in the execution of his duties.
In his decree, Mr Justice Spiteri Bailey observed that Azzopardi was not only playing the role of a public official, but also of an official of the court.
While publicly thanking him for his work and expressing full confidence in the way he was serving his assignment, the judge said he would be afforded all the protection required to continue his role in the liquidation of Pefaco International Limited.
The court said it was preoccupied about Azzopardi’s fears “because no public officer and no officer of this court should feel threatened or afraid when he is doing his duty”.
The judge observed that this was a form of a SLAPP procedure, this time not against a journalist but against a public official carrying out his duty in the public interest and in the interest of the administration of justice.
The judge said he would not tolerate any threats against public or court officers and Azzopardi should be afforded all the protection required.
“The court believes that once the [shareholders] thought it opportune to subject themselves to Maltese jurisdiction by, directly or indirectly, involving themselves in a commercial company registered in Malta, they must observe all laws without exception and bow their heads before the decisions of the Maltese Courts and not challenge them and attempt to obscure them,” the judge said.
He continued: “This court will not tolerate its authority being undermined with measures in other jurisdictions so that the orders of this court on a company registered in Malta are not executed.”
He, therefore, ordered the police commissioner to investigate the company’s directors and ordered Azzopardi to pass on all information to the Financial Analysis and Intelligence Unit for an investigation into suspected money laundering.
The judge also called on the Foreign Ministry to intervene to solve the matter through diplomatic channels and notified the Prime Minister with the decree.