Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1066826
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 DECEMBER 2018 WHAT a year it has been. From a court reporter's perspective, 2018 has been one of the busi- est years in a long time. Featuring mostly a continu- ation of cases which started in 2017 and preceding years, 2018 also brought with it a sprinkling of important judg- ments and landmark rulings that rocked the legal profes- sion, such as the decision to rule all police statements is- sued without a lawyer present as in breach of human rights. Narrowing down the ap- proximately 850 court stories published in 2018 to find the most striking ones is no sim- ple task, but here's a shortlist of the cases which truly stood out this year. Panama A decision in the Panama Pa- pers Inquiry case is finally in sight, after a judge gave parties a deadline to make their final submissions in writing in De- cember. The case began last year af- ter former leader of the Op- position, Simon Busuttil, filed a request to Magistrate Ian Farrugia for a magisterial in- quiry to be opened into money laundering allegations involv- ing high-ranking government ministers and officials. Magistrate Farrugia upheld the request but the men filed appeals. The appeals were as- signed to Mr. Justice Antonio Mizzi, leading Busuttil to re- quest the recusal of the judge given that he was married to Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi. The request was turned down, weeks before Mizzi was due to retire, with the cases then as- signed to Mr. Justice Giovanni Grixti after Mizzi's retirement. Grixti was given the task of hearing the seven individual appeals, filed by Prime Minis- ter Joseph Muscat, his chief of staff Keith Schembri, Tour- ism Minister Konrad Mizzi, businessmen Brian Tonna, Karl Cini, Malcolm Scerri and Adrian Hillman against Magistrate Ian Farrugia's de- cision to launch an inquiry into money laundering allega- tions and establish whether money-laundering laws were breached by government offi- cials in opening offshore com- panies in Panama, as well as opaque financial structures in New Zealand. In December Mizzi filed a Constitutional case claiming the lengthy proceedings are breaching his human rights. Lifeline The case against Lifeline Cap- tain Claus Peter Reisch drags on into the New Year. The captain of the humanitarian sea rescue vessel was charged last July with having steered the ship into Maltese territorial waters without the necessary registration and licences. Reisch's arrest shone an in- ternational media spotlight on Malta's handling of the seaborne illegal immigration crisis. Reisch took the witness stand in December, saying he didn't need permission to rescue peo- ple in distress at sea because it's the law. Daphne Caruana Galizia The shockwave from the cold-blooded 2017 murder of journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia continued to reverberate in 2018 in every news sector, not least in court. Aside from the compilation NEWS hristmas specials • rime COURT NOTICE The Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals informs that the Civil Court, First Hall ordered the following sales by auction: Date Time Judicial Sale No Place Items 16 th January, 2019 12.00pm 18/18-EGL L-Awtorita għat-Trasport f'Malta vs Il-Bastiment M/T Turu (IMO8408777 Room number 78, Level -1 nearby the Archives, Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta Vessel "M/T Turu" IMO number 8408777, officially registration number 45744-PEXT, call sign HP4694, gross tonnage of 457, net tonnage of 257, with the Panama flag and was built in the year 1985. 23 rd January 2019 12.00pm 32/11JGL Brian Cutajar (ID227379M) noe vs Salvatore sive Salvu Cutajar (ID375142M) First floor of these Courts of Justice, Republic Street, Valletta 100 ordinary shares within the company S.C. & Company Limited C- 6050 30 th January 2019 11.00am 7/18JGL A&J Baldacchino Boatyard Ltd (C17586), vs Paul Philip Caruana (ID 524386M). A & J BALDACCHINO LIMITED, TRIQ ĦAL FAR, BIRŻEBBUĠA Boat named 'Omera' officially numbered 2816 registered in Malta of the make 'Feeling' model 1090 length 10.9 metres built in 1984 valued at €10,000. 30 th January 2019 11.30am 6/18EGL A&J Baldacchino Boatyard Ltd (C17586), vs Tonio Friggieri (ID 3870M). A &J BALDACCHINO BOATYARD LIMITED, TRIQ ĦAL FAR, BIRZEBBUĠA Boat named 'Tramuntana' officially numbered 12841, registered in Malta, by Call Sign 9HB2065 built in 1991 of the make Sunseeker model Camargue 46, length 13.83m and width 4.08m valued at €7,500. Further details can be obtained from the website: https://ecourts.gov.mt/onlineservices/JudicialSales The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card Gaetana Aquilina For the Registrar Civil Courts and Tribunals Femicide and financial crime take centre-stage MATTHEW AGIUS Paceville mogul Hugo Chetcuti was murdered in July in a stabbing at one of his own establishments. Bojan Cmelik, a former employee of Hugo Chetcuti's has been charged with the murder. Several terrible murders were committed this year. Michael Emmanuel, 28, was accused of murdering his partner, Maria Lourdes Agius, mother to seven, at the family home in Paola in September. 30-year-old Shannon Mak from Holland was brutally murdered, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend Jelle Rijpma: the problem of femicide and domestic violence prompted a women's march in Valletta