Dr Gavin Gulia’s contribution Luigi Pirandello and court statistics, (TMID, 2 October) warrants a reply. My friend and colleague chose segments of my last press conference in paradoxical Pirandello style to attempt to denigrate the results this ministry has achieved in these last years and to derail the efforts made

Reading through his lines, one gets a mistaken impression on the subject of the executive judicial letters. This legal instrument – contrary to what he has stated – is both inexpensive and fast. The statistics show that during 2005, from August to the end of December, 1,429 letters were submitted, to which objections were filed in only 10 per cent of the cases. This year, to end September, 2,695 letters were submitted, with objections amounting to only 15 per cent of issues.

These figures can be easily checked at the Court Registry. It is manifestly clear that, contrary to what Dr Gulia is stating, in the vast majority of cases the executive judicial letter is effective. However, obviously – though the legal fees incurred in filing a judicial letter are 40 per cent of those paid in any normal lawsuit – there are still some who would have had their clients and their debtors pay the whole amount and not part of it, and obviously spend a longer time at the Law Courts.

Contrary to what is stated in the article, there is now a trend in favour of an increase in the amounts for the retrieval of which it would be possible to use the executive judicial letter. The direct result has been that for claims below amounts of Lm5,000 and for bills of exchange (to which reference was not made), a great improvement has been achieved.

Additionally, there is also the indirect effect of the judicial letter. Dr Gulia referred to the Magistrates’ Courts, but failed to mention the Small Claims Tribunal. In both these institutions, there has been a significant change in the pending backlog. In 2003, there were 1,689 pending cases in the Magistrates’ Courts and 2,057 pending cases in the Small Claims Tribunal. In 2004, there were 1,725 pending cases in the Magistrates’ Courts and 2,178 in the Small Claims Tribunal, ie an increase in backlog. In 2005, there were 1,476 pending cases in the Magistrates’ Courts and 1,927 in the Small Claims Tribunal. By August 2006, the number of pending cases in the Magistrates’ Courts amounted to 1,351 and 1,400 in the Small Claims Tribunals.

These figures indicate that, after the introduction of the executive judicial letter in 2005, there was – and still is – a trend towards declining numbers, that is 374 from 2005 to 2006 in the Magistrates’ Court and 768 in the Small Claims Tribunal. However, my friend felt free from a need to acknowledge these figures.

One further point – it was also unfair of him to refrain from stating that the bulk of civil cases in the Magistrates’ Court are divided between only four Magistrates, not 12.

Dr Gulia should have asked people in small and medium enterprises for their experiences. They have reaped the benefit of the current procedure. Had he done so, he would have heard the favourable comments I received during the Malta Association of Credit Management Annual Conference 2006 entitled Improving Debt Collection through the Maltese Courts, held on 9 May. I would have expected this from one who had been purposely detailed to follow the interests of small and medium businesses.

Pirandello is known to have looked at the opposite, or seeming opposite sides, of the same truth. There is no ambivalence in his statement: “Anyone can be heroic from time to time, but a gentleman is something you have to be all the time”. With that, I wholeheartedly agree. The truth is always the truth. Perhaps Dr Gulia should look it in the face and, as the gentleman he is, admit it.

Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici

is parliamentary secretary in the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry