The current system of court appointed experts, whereby the judiciary have sole discretion in who they appoint and how, is in need of urgent review.

For those that have patrolled the corridors of the law courts, it is clear that a system of individual preference (to put it mildly) exists. Again, one has to have firsthand experience of watching how it works to see that it is indeed a problem.

Things have improved over the years, but going back about 10 years, there was even abuse in terms of court appointed experts giving testimony in court, and they would actually be paid according to each sheet of written evidence they put together. If one increased the font size of the printing by about two or three notches, well that would mean a couple of hundred euro extra in expenses.

Also, it is clear that certain magistrates would simply roll a name off their tongue (invariably the same one) every time an expert was needed – ballistics, mental health evaluation, forensics, mobile phone transcripts... you name it, it’s there.

This government has already done much in terms of giving the judiciary and the legal system a shakeup, but more needs to be done. As things stands, funds are being squandered that could easily be re-funnelled back into the court infrastructure.

One lawyer called it a racket, and that is what it is. A report detailing necessary changes was drawn up by the previous administration, but it was never implemented.

Now this government is looking into setting up of a team of magistrates to focus on investigations and inquiries in order to assure more efficiency and specialisation.

The government is also working on the setting up of an entity which among other things will be responsible for accrediting and certifying court experts. This is certainly a start. It would probably involve the setting up of an independent authority possibly parliamentary, or perhaps under the auspices of the Ombudsman’s Office to make sure that everything is above board and up to standards of practice.

Malta has been a European Union member for over 10 years now, and although we have advanced in many ways, in other we still lag behind. We will always be a Mediterranean country and people. But we have to step up to the plate and implement real changed in the way things are done. It is not quite the same, but if we look at the quandary Greece got itself into, a substantial part of it was caused by cronyism and a widespread attitude of borderline corruption. The situation in the law courts is not corruption, but it most definitely is cronyism and it needs to be addressed now.