The matter regarding Small Claims Tribunal adjudicator John Bonello, who was reported to Parliament over political commentary made on Facebook, “is an internal matter and not for public debate,” the Chamber of Advocates told this newspaper.
Shadow Minister for Justice Jason Azzopardi evidently disagrees with the chamber, having raised the issue in Parliament, which is broadcast live on television as well as online. The PN MP has also requested an investigation into the matter. He claimed that the comments put the adjudicator’s impartiality into question and that the Chamber of Advocates has been inundated with complaints. Dr Azzopardi demanded action.
The Malta Independent contacted both Dr Azzopardi and the Chamber of Advocates to investigate the extent of the complaints and whether they referred to Dr Bonello’s behavior on social media or to specific posts.
Dr Azzopardi suggested that we direct our questions to the chamber, but did say that on 22 February he was ‘informed by a Committee member of the Chamber that it wrote to Dr Bonello, giving him four days’ notice to reply to its questions after it received several complaints. Dr Azzopardi claimed that one complaint was about Dr Bonello “suspending the sittings of the Small Claims Tribunal to go for lunch and to attend to his own court cases elsewhere in the building[the adjudicator is also a practicing lawyer].” He also claimed that Dr Bonello had not yet replied to the Chamber (as at 15 March).
In the hopes of verifying these claims, questions were also sent to the Chamber, however it chose not to divulge information about its internal affairs. Sources in the legal circles however said that Dr Bonello had been spoken to by the group, however the exchange was described as an informal one, rather than a formal set of questions that the adjudicator was tasked with responding to.
Dr Bonello has a long history with the PN, with which he has since disassociated himself, namely as a member of the youth section of the PN (MZPN) and as a member of the PN executive (International Sectretary). His brother, Charles Bonello, is a PN councillor in Fgura and was the personal assistant of former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. He is also a general election candidate.
In light of this, Dr Azzopardi was asked whether some personal vendetta had been the motive for raising the matter in Parliament, to which he said, “forget it, vendetta was never and will never be part of my vocabulary and seeing that what I said was the Parliamentary Group’s position I can assure you that no personal animosity was shown or felt when I was asked to relay PN concerns. Taking your question to its logical conclusion, does it thus mean that even the Chamber of Advocates had vendetta up its sleeve when it wrote to him on 22 February? Definitely not. What cannot be denied is the Facebook screenshots I exhibited from Dr Bonello's FB. I was neither inventing nor imagining things.”
Dr Azzopardi continued: “As I stated in Parliament, I wish Dr Bonello all the luck in the world in his political career. However I think you'd agree with me that John citizen has a fundamental right to appear before an Adjudicator free from any perception of political bias. Dr Bonello's right to express himself on matters of political controversy stops at the door of society's fundamental right to be have justice administered by an independent and impartial tribunal.”
Dr Bonelo’s media posts always followed the same pattern: a link to a news item, with accompanying commentary. Examples include a link to a news item showing PN candidate Salvu Mallia standing alone outside of Castille (Office of the Prime Minister) with the headline “I’m on a mission like Jesus, Ghandi, Che Gevuara...,” with the comment by Dr Bonello: “When realising the state the PN has gotten itself into, one wells up with tears.”
In another example, the lawyer commented on a news item about the PN: “Interesting article. The commentary of Simon Busuttil confirms that within the PN there is no scope for discussion”.