The media in Malta is not protected enough to serve its role as the fourth pillar of democracy, the newly-elected president of the Chamber of Advocates, Peter Fenech, said.

Speaking at the opening of the forensic year, Fenech said the media can do good as much as it can do bad. The media should be given more recognition to serve its function.

Malta, he said, will be celebrating its 20th year as a European member state, however “whilst we had sectors which have improved, the justice (system) did not keep up with the same pace”.

In giving a breakdown of the current problems within the justice system, Fenech said the country cannot remain in its current “status quo” in the coming years.

“We need to holistically analyse the situation ... We need to ensure that what is done in the sector is done stretgically and not in response to a crisis”.

Fenech also mentioned how the chamber believes that the current sentencing policy needs to be discussed. Serving as a guidance and reference to members of the judiciary, he said that “times where it was okay that just by becoming a member of the judicary, they think they have a right, without the needed based research, to change the direction of a long established legal principle, have ended”.

Morevoer he said that in revisiting the sentencing policies could also lead to fewer court cases.

Fenech also spoke about the delegation of court work and the “depenalisation of certain sectors or/ crimes”. By handing over some cases to tribunals would lead to a reduction of the courts’ workload.

Fenech said that in the upcoming forensic year, the Chamber will be doing everything within its power for the Act regulating the legal profession to become law.

“The profession has been waiting for 15 years, and I declare that in our opinion this period of waiting is unacceptable”, he said.

He said that one of the biggest challenges the chamber has before it is the emphasis on the anti-money laundering and countering of the financing of terrorism. While there has been some advancement, there are discrepancies between those who work in the sector and those who regulate it, and this is because what is happening in practice is stifling the work being carried out.

The FIAU is issuing a number of implementing procedures and guidelines, but it we must learn to use a risk based approach better without fear of making mistakes. The guidelines are not the solution, and parts of them need to be clarified too.

He said that it is important for the sector operate on a European level playing field. Hence to address the matter, the Chamber is proposing a round table conference for all concerned stakeholders, such as lawyers, MFSA, audit firms “for there to be a transparent analysis on the progress which happened in the last five years…the consequences of the risk-based approach and the difference in the operation of AML practices within other (European) member states”. 

Moreover, Fenech also said that he has written a letter to the Finance Minister Clyde Caruana and Justice minister Jonathan Attard “so together we can put forward this proposal”.

Fenech also spoke about the Chamber’s ‘Justice 2030’ proposal.

He said that many times the effort for positive measures within the justice system have been done in reaction to several present crisis, and “was not done thought strategically”.

Commenting on this he said that when one looks throughout cases from several court departments (such as criminal, commercial, and so on), “one immediately recognises that there is a need for a deep analysis into our current direction, the way it is going forward and most importantly where we want to be in 2030”.

The Chamber recognises the fact that there needs to be an audit on the whole operation of the judiciary.

Fenech also said that the judiciary needs to also ask the difficult questions such as “whether it is too cheap to litigate” and “what kind of spaces are we going to need and from where are we going to work”, with reference to the many opportunities authorities have missed over the last 25 years “to acquire buildings in the vicinity of the courts that could have served as an extension of the premises”.