Commission for the Administration of Justice fails to discuss magistrate nomination

A meeting of the Commission for the Administration of Justice held on Monday did not discuss the controversial nomination of lawyer Caroline Farrugia Frendo as magistrate.

Appeals have been made to the government to ask for the commission’s advice to ensure there are no doubts about her appointment, after questions were raised over her eligibility to become a magistrate.

The Chamber of Advocates, the Opposition and the man behind the government’s justice reform blueprint, Giovanni Bonello, have been among those making the appeals.

However, sources close to the office of the President told the Times of Malta that the issue was not included in the meeting’s agenda.

President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, who presides over the commission and setsits agenda, declined comment when questioned yesterday.

“The Commission meets in private and I cannot say anything,” she said. “It is a constitutional commission and the Constitution specifically says that meetings are held in private. If there is anything we could state in public, we will do that out of our own free will.”

Dr Farrugia Frendo will only have spent seven years in legal practice, as required by the Constitution, when she is...