Magistrate in Vitals probe has over 90 other pending inquiries
Latest figures show over 1,700 pending magisterial inquiries
The magistrate accused by Prime Minister Robert Abela of having taken too long to complete the Vitals inquiry has another 94 inquiries in her inbox, court statistics show.
Magistrate Gabriella Vella must juggle that load of work with 99 court cases that she is also presiding over.
Her workload is not unique among her colleagues: most magistrates have dozens of pending magisterial inquiries and court cases that they have yet to be concluded. In some cases, those numbers run into three figures.
Vella, who last week concluded an inquiry into the privatisation of three state hospitals, has been targeted for criticism by former prime minister Joseph Muscat – who is a subject of that probe – as well as Muscat’s successor, Abela.
Abela has repeatedly argued that, by law, Vella should have concluded her inquiry within 60 days and that the four-year period it took her to complete work on the Vitals one was “exaggerated”.
But a Times of Malta factcheck earlier this year concluded that practically every inquiry takes longer than that to be concluded, and one in five take longer than four years to complete. Some ongoing inquiries date back to the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Legal sources said that most of the delays are caused by the limited pool of court experts who take longer than expected to complete their reports, sometimes due to elaborate tests, some of which have to be carried out overseas.
According to the latest court statistics published in April and which cover until the end of February, there are 1,735 pending magisterial inquiries.
The magistrates with the heaviest workload of inquiries are Monica Vella, Victor Axiak, Yana Micallef Stafrace, Philip Galea Farrugia, Antoine Agius Bonnici, and Ian Farrugia. The latter three, along with Magistrate Joe Mifsud, who has 30 pending inquiries, are the chosen four magistrates who will focus solely on inquiries.
Magistrate Astrid May Grima has more than 90 pending, Magistrate Noel Bartolo has 85 and Rachel Montebello has 81. The other magistrates have between 20 and 66 pending inquiries.
Some inquiries date back to the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s
Apart from these, all magistrates, except those who will be focusing on inquiries, have on their hands nearly 2,700 pending compilations of evidence between them. The magistrates with the highest workload of compilations are Elaine Rizzo (351), Claire Stafrace Zammit (331), Marseann Farrugia (263), Caroline Farrugia Frendo (231), and Astrid May Grima and Rachel Montebello, who have 203 and 201 cases respectively.
On top of that, Grima has nearly 1,400 pending district cases, Monica Vella has 945 and Farrugia Frendo has just under 500 pending district cases.
Along with 149 pending inquiries, Magistrate Victor George Axiaq has 2,522 pending traffic cases and 3,235 pending appeals from decisions of the local tribunal.
There are just over 2,040 domestic violence cases that are being heard by two magistrates, Abigail Critien and Nadia Helena Vella.
In total, the Magistrates’ Court has just under 20,400 pending cases.
In Gozo, the magistrates presiding over the Gozo court have 410 pending cases, most of which are district and traffic hearings, as well as 52 pending compilations of evidence.