Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri has denied accusations by Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi, the wife of Judge Antonio Mizzi, that he knew – and failed to act – when two law students were assigned to judges and cleared to obtain their warrants despite having criminal records. 

Times of Malta reported that four court judges, one of whom was Ms Mizzi’s husband, in examining law students prior to the granting of warrants, cleared two of them despite having criminal records which barred them from becoming lawyers.

The two had been found guilty and given suspended sentences for document theft and falsification.

READ: Judges clear law students with criminal records

Court sources said that both the Chief Justice and the Chamber of Advocates had regarded the situation as a serious one and had therefore filed an objection about it with the President.

Marlene Mizzi

In a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, Ms Mizzi wrote that the Chief Justice was aware of the pair’s criminal record but went ahead and still assigned them to Mr Justice Mizzi, Madam Justice Jacqueline Padovani Grima, Mr Justice Wenzu Mintoff and Mr Justice Joseph Micallef.

“The Chief Justice knew of the case of the two lawyers before he assigned them to the judges. Why did he not act?” the Labour MEP asked.

In further comments accompanying the Facebook post, Ms Mizzi went on to insist that the Chief Justice was aware of the situation before the students had even “sat for the written warrant exam” and did nothing.

“If Silvio Camilleri felt so strongly about this issue, he should have flagged it before they sat for their written exam. The oral exam with the judges is only taken after the written exam,” she said.

When another person commenting on the Facebook post pointed out that the four judges were “made to look bad” and that the Chief Justice “could not be bothered”, as his term would come to an end soon, Ms Mizzi agreed, replying with a curt “Exactly.”

Reacting to the comments, the Chief Justice said he does not assign lawyers to judges, as suggested by the MEP.

“Lawyers are distributed among the examining judicial panels by the Court Administration and not by me. I acted immediately, as soon as I had the necessary information in hand,” he said.

Marlene Mizzi stands by her comments

In a reaction on Thursday morning to the above story, Ms Mizzi said she stood by her comments.

"I would like to state that I stand by what I said and will reserve further comments as need be” she told Times of Malta.

Muscat: I will not get involved

Questioned about the issue, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he would not get involved. He said Ms Mizzi had a right to exercise her freedom of expression, and both she and the Chief Justice always acted correctly.

Association of magistrates, judges: 'two factual non-truths'

In a statement, the Association of Judges and Magistrates in Malta said it wanted to refer to two "factual non-truths" reported in the article which "completely distort the circumstances of the case and mislead" the reader.

It rejected the claim that the two candidates for the warrant had been each handed a suspended sentence. Both candidates had been conditionally discharged and, at law, such a decision is not a conviction, it said.

It also denied that the two candidates had a criminal record. The updated Malta Police Certificate of Conduct presented by each of the two candidates for the Judge’s scrutiny was an unblemished one.

"The association reiterates that the empanneled judges, having taken into consideration all the aspects of the law and having examined the candidates accordingly, correctly applied the law in force to date."