Members of the Cabinet were taken aback on Monday morning after receiving a strongly worded five-page letter from the personal email account of Judge Lawrence (Wenzu) Mintoff, The Times reports today. In the message, anger was expressed at his being passed over for the role of chief justice.

Several ministers described the letter to The Times as damaging. One labelled it "kamikaze," suggesting it effectively eliminated any remaining possibility of Mintoff securing the post. Another called it "radioactive," while a third said the communication was confusing and counterproductive.

The Nationalist Party proposed Mintoff as Chief Justice. However, the government has put forward other candidates, first Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera, whose nominated did not get parliamentary approval, and later Judge Miriam Hayman.

Later, MaltaToday reported that in his letter, which was also copied to President Miriam Spiteri Debono, the prime minister, Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg and Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, Judge Lawrence Mintoff accused Prime Minister Robert Abela of prejudice against him.

MaltaToday, reporting that is has seen the letter, said Mintoff says he was summoned to Auberge de Castille on 11 February to discuss the appointment of Chief Justice. During the meeting, he claimed Abela told him he could not nominate any of the four candidates identified by the Opposition because doing so would appear as though the government were "giving in". The government later nominated Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera, whose nomination was rejected. The appointment of a chief justice requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority, and this threshhold was not reached as the Opposition voted against.

According to Mintoff, the prime minister argued that selecting one of the Opposition's nominees would not sit well with "party diehards" and could inflate PN MP Alex Borg's stature, MaltaToday reports. Mintoff writes that he objected to leaving such a senior judicial post vacant for partisan reasons rather than selecting a candidate on merit and in the national interest.

Mintoff says he cited the 2009 nomination of George Abela as president by then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, a decision supported by the Labour Opposition. "Neither side won; rather the country won," Mintoff recalls telling Abela. He claims the Prime Minister replied that it had been a mistake for Gonzi to appoint his father George Abela, MaltaToday reports.

The judge further alleges that Abela insisted the PN had proposed four names only to "burn" them while favouring someone else. Mintoff said he challenged the prime minister to "call their bluff" if that were the case. He claimed Abela responded that the political climate was too heated to proceed with an appointment and preferred to defer the matter until after the next election.

Mintoff wrote that when he expressed concern that the postponement would eliminate his own chances, Abela asked for time to consider the issue. In subsequent WhatsApp exchanges, the Prime Minister allegedly cited Mintoff's age - 66, with two years remaining before retirement - as a factor. Mintoff noted that when Judge Joseph Azzopardi was appointed chief justice in 2018, he was in a similar position. He claimed Abela said he had not agreed with Azzopardi's appointment either.

The letter, according to MaltaToday, then outlined two incidents Mintoff believes underpin Abela's alleged opposition. The first relates to a civil damages case stemming from the 2015 Paqpaqli għall-Istrina supercar crash in Luqa, in which Abela appeared as counsel before Mintoff.

The second concerns the 2021 publication by SKS, Labour's publishing arm, of Fr Mark Montebello's biography of Dom Mintoff. The book allegedly contained damaging allegations about a now-deceased member of Mintoff's family. Mintoff says he asked Abela, as Labour leader, to withdraw the book and later to issue a public apology and donate proceeds to charity. Both requests were refused.

Mintoff, nephew of former Labour leader Dom Mintoff, briefly served as a Labour MP in the 1980s before leaving the party and co-founding Alternattiva Demokratika. He later reconciled with Labour, ran as a Labour candidate in the 2004 European Parliament elections, and served as editor of the party's newspaper before being appointed to the bench in 2014.

In a statement on Facebook, Repubblika said it was "shocked and concerned" by the news and "asked the prime minister to publish the letter."

"Speculation about its content will continue to damage confidence in our institutions. Prime Minister, the public has the right to know. Publish now," the NGO said