MAGISTRATE ASSIGNED TO THE PILATUS BANK CASE REMOVED BY MALTA'S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

 

NADINE LIA, the magistrate assigned to the criminal case in Malta involving senior officers and directors of Pilatus Bank, which has been accused of being a massive money laundering operation for its Iranian owner, has been removed from the case, after a Constitutional Court held that she should be removed and another magistrate assigned. She had previously refused to step aside, but the Court, establishing what it referred to as inconsistent judicial behaviour, reassigned the case.

This came after Malta's most prominent reformist non-governmental reform organization, REPUBBLIKA, had sought her removal from the Pilatus Case, on the grounds of Conflict of Interest. Lia's father-in-law, PAWLU LIA, is an attorney who has represented the disgraced former Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, has been the legal counsel for the ruling Labour Party, and was involved in the inquiry regarding the Egrant offshore corporation scandal, which involved Pilatus Bank. 

After Judge Lia rejected prior pleas to recuse herself from the case, although she had taken such action in other proceedings, Repubblika filed its action in the Constitutional Court which, speaking through Judge Ian Spiteri Bailey, determined that the case was to be reassigned, in a 41-page opinion which discussed all aspects of the issue and the law.

Whether this ruling is indicative of a movement toward reform of Malta's flawed court system will depend upon whether we begin to see the Rule of Law actually followed in future decisions and opinions. Only time will tell; Repubblika's action did, however, bring a decisive response from the Court.