The procedure to file judicial letters for bills of exchange and in cases where debts are under Lm5,000 has helped to save 6,375 court cases from being heard, the Parliamentary Secretary in the Justice Ministry said yesterday. Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici was speaking at a ceremony to present warrants to 38 lawyers and three legal procurators.

He said that over the past three years, 1,300 judicial letters had been filed with the result that in 2005 alone, the country and the state had saved Lm140,000 in judicial expenses.

The parliamentary secretary said that the government had strengthened the Arbitration Centre and last year a total of 900 cases were registered, seven of which were international arbitration cases.

He said that this was a new area of interest to lawyers and he encouraged them to specialize in this sector. Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the Mediation Centre was also functioning well and 10 cases were referred to the centre last year.

He thanked those working in the law courts for their hard work. He said that a total of 29,896 cases had been filed in court with 34,959 cases decided upon.He said that six years ago, the number of pending cases was 14,668 while last year it was 9,746, a decrease of 33 per cent.

This was a satisfactory result and was the fruit of the government’s efforts to introduce reforms.