Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his close allies Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, and Chris Cardona remain subject to major corruption allegations and growing links to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Yet, his and several Labour Party figures’ personal lawyer Pawlu Lia still enjoys unwavering authority over Malta’s courts.

Despite the government pushing through much-needed judicial reform, several legal sources still warn that Lia enjoys undue power. They fear that his multiple governmental roles and his legal representation of both the former Prime Minister and Labour Party figures eroding any sense of the rule of law.

He once also represented Keith Schembri but dumped his client during the political crisis that erupted towards the end of 2019.

Beyond being the reported person who redacted the infamous Egrant Inquiry, he is a member of the Commission for the Administration of Justice and has long enjoyed far-reaching power. The Commission’s powers are only going to grow under proposed reform and will be responsible for the impeachment of judges.

Nominated by Muscat, the role allows Lia to enjoy a status similar to a judge, giving the former Prime Minister’s and Labour Party’s lawyer an elevated and influential position in the courts.

By way of comparison, the Opposition’s representative on the Commission is retired judge Victor Caruana Colombo…  someone who is no longer active in court cases.

A judger of judges, Lia sits on the Commission with members of the judiciary who decide his clients’ cases, like Muscat and Schembri’s. While he also appears in front of judges and magistrates who are well aware that they may appear in front of him in disciplinary proceedings.

Being on the Commission also allows Dr Lia to interact with members of the judiciary in a way that other lawyers may not. Usually, lawyers are only able to speak to members of the judiciary through the deputy registrar, meaning each conversation is logged.

With his daughter-in-law Nadine Lia a sitting magistrate, there are also concerns of a familial conflict of interest, especially after she was initially reluctant to step down from an inquiry into state witness Melvin Theuma’s phantom job.

Lia has controversies elsewhere with his plans for a Valletta palazzo-office block conversion being approved by the Planning Board despite the Planning Authority case officer recommending its refusal.

Malta’s Justice Ministry is yet to reply to questions on whether it plans to remove Lia from the role. The government has made recent strides to clean up parts of the state and its party with Konrad Mizzi, Chris Cardona, and now Economic Crimes Head Ian Abdilla all resigning.

With reform on the cards and the investigation on the Caruana Galizia case still ongoing, Muscat’s influence on the courts must be immediately removed.

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