No record of the conversation that Prime Minister Robert Abela said he had with a magistrate was kept, meaning that the identity of the member of the judiciary in question remains unknown.

This emerged from a Freedom of Information request and subsequent complaint to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner which were filed by independent candidate Arnold Cassola.

The initial FOI request was turned down by the Office of the Prime Minister, and the IDPC then concluded that no document or record had been kept of the conversation between Abela and the female magistrate in question.

Abela made reference to this conversation during a speech on 29 January, where he spoke about what he believed to be the malfunctioning of the Maltese courts.

The admission that he had spoken to a member of the judiciary directly and informally had prompted significant criticism, including from the Chamber of Advocates.

Because there were no documents of the conversation, the Commissioner thus concluded "that the Public Authority did not hold any article on which the information requested by the applicant was recorded in whatever form to meet the terms of the FOI request at the time of receipt of the FOI request."

Arnold Cassola commented: " We have now reached the stage where the Prime Minister of the country can hold unregistered conversations with members of the judiciary on the situation of the law courts in Malta, without leaving any record of such conversations.”

“Who can assure us that in the future the Prime Minister will not avail himself of such undocumented  conversations with Magistrates in order to influence the course of judicial processes," Cassola questioned.