If a creditor is disposing of property assets in court, this should not be disposed of at less than 60 per cent of its current value, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said in Parliament yesterday.

Speaking on the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure Amendment Bill, Minister Borg said that the new bill greatly simplified matters and reduced expenses in the case of property settlements where liquidation proceeds were concerned.

He said that the judicial letter process had also reduced expenses and speeded up matters for a fair and just remedy for judgements to be executed.

Opposition spokesperson for Justice Anglu Farrugia said that a number of magistrates and judges were suffering from an incredible workload while other judges had less work to do. He also spoke about various amendments to property laws in relation to tax evaluation and how these could be simplified.

Dr Farrugia said that one of the articles in the Bill was not constitutionally correct when it spoke on certain terms of personal arrest. He also lamented the lack of facilities at the Gozo courts which he said needed a serious facelift.

Labour MP Jose Herrera called for the re-introduction of the impediment of departure in relation to insolvency and said that the question of payment obligations by debtors should be tightened up. At one point, Parliamentary Secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said that amendments to the laws quoted by Dr Herrera would be tabled for discussion in Parliament shortly.

Dr Herrera also spoke about cautionary mandates for collection of debts and said that the law in this respect should also be tightened up. He called for the eventual distribution of assets in relation to the liquidation of property and/or assets to be made by the First Hall of the Civil Court.

Another Labour MP, Joe Sammut, spoke about certain anomalies on the pricing of property by the courts that would be amended with this new bill. However he criticised the fact that the Civil Code has been massacred with a myriad of amendments that have weakened its legal strength.

Dr Sammut also called for a revision of the legal tariffs as these were inordinately high and was leading to a decrease in business as most people could not afford them.