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8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JULY 2024 LETTERS & LAW Letters to the Editor Law Report Clarification on Police Commissioner's radio comments THE Malta Police Force would like to clarify that, contrary to the assertions made within the article Police Await- ing Court Direction On Accused In Social Benefits Racket Seeking Whis- tleblower Status, published on 21 July 2024, which made reference to an in- terview aired on RTK103 on Saturday 20 July 2024, at no point did the Police Commissioner say that 'the police are awaiting the Court's direction to speak to an accused person in the social ben- efits fraud case.' During the said interview, the Com- missioner stated that with regard to the allegation and declarations made by the said individual, it was the prosecuting officer himself who had requested direction from the Court to speak to the individual and this direc- tion was necessary since the individual is already accused and the police can- not interview him again on the same alleged crime unless duly authorised by the Court. The Commissioner also stated that as soon as the case against the men- tioned individual starts being heard in open Court, everyone will be made aware of the outcome of said Court direction. The Commissioner's exact state- ment in this regard is reproduced hereunder: 'This is public. It was the prosecut- ing officer who asked the court for direction to be able to speak to the person you are referring to and we need that direction from the court because the person stands accused and we cannot speak to him again unless we are authorised by the court; the person is accused and so we cannot speak to him if not with the court's authorisation and this happened in the past days and God willing the case against him is now public and one can see what happened in that regard.' Inspector Rodienne Bartolo Haidon f/Commissioner of Police Floriana Bad planning and pedestrianising Mosta square THE pedestrianisation of Mosta's main square on Saturday and Sunday was a good idea but the problem is that it was done without adequate planning. For those who live in the environs of the Rotunda it has been an ongo- ing nightmare over the past couple of years to reach home because of the multiple diversions caused by road- works happening at one go. Getting in and out of Mosta has been a very big problem. Unfortunately, this is the result of bad planning. The closure of the main square to traffic simply makes an already unbearable situation worse. Mosta's main square cannot be compared to Valletta's Republic and Merchant streets. Valletta has no pass-through traffic like Mosta. The closure of the square simply diverts all the pass-through traffic into the side streets, causing mayhem for us resi- dents. The pedestrianisation project should have been introduced as part of a Mo- sta-wide traffic management plan en- acted after the frenzy of roadworks are completed. In this way, pass-through traffic can be diverted to by-passes on the outskirts, while residential traffic will be able to use side streets when the square is closed off. T. Muscat Mosta THE annulment of a marriage may still allow a woman to receive a widow's pension. This was held in Loranza Vassallo vs Director Social Security, decided on 17 July 2024 by the Court of Appeal pre- sided by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff. Loranza Vassallo appealed from a de- cision given by an arbiter following a decision taken by the Director General of Social Security. Vassallo's widow's pension was removed because it was decided that she was not a widow of the deceased. The Court analysed the facts of the case. In May 2023, Vassallo was in- formed that she was not entitled to widow's pension under the Social Se- curity Act, because she cannot be con- sidered a widow. She explained that she was not aware of the annulment of marriage and her lawyer did not inform her of the annulment. The Director General replied in saying that once her marriage was declared null and void, then the Appellant was not entitled to a widow's pension. The Arbiter in his decision of 12 May 2023 explained that the Appellant was married to George Vassallo and in July 1997, their marriage was declared null and void. The widow's pension is in- tended for married couples and an an- nulment means that the marriage never took place. Therefore, she was not enti- tled to the pension. Vassallo appealed the decision, as she challenged the notion that an annul- ment means the marriage never took place. The 1975 Marriage Act allows the law to recognise the effect of mar- riage after annulment. The Appellant explained that marriage is not an ordi- nary contract, but it is regulated by a special law. Article 20 of the Marriage Act states the effects of the marriage remain valid until the marriage is de- clared null and void and as long as both spouses were in good faith. Vassallo ar- gued that they had entered in marriage in good faith. Vassallo also argued that she had paid taxes before the marriage was annulled. The taxes were paid during marriage and therefore part of the community of acquests. As a result, she had a right to receive a pension. She worked and therefore, should expect a pension in- dependently from her former husband. She also argued that the contribution to a pension should be considered as an investment during the period between her marriage and the declaration of annulment. What her husband paid in this period is hers as much as her for- mer husband's. The Court of Appeal in its ruling re- ferred to another Court of Appeal judg- ment decided on 26 June 2015, Felicity Muscat vs Director of Finance et. In this judgment, the court had held that a marriage is valid until it is de- clared null. Annulment, however, can- not ignore that the parties did have a relationship as spouses. Traditionally the courts have made a distinction be- tween marriages that are voidable and those which are void. This distinction can be seen in Article 18 and 19 of the Marriage Act. A null act is null from the beginning. A voidable act becomes null when it is declared null, however, there are juridical effects from the be- ginning. Article 20 of the Marriage Act states that the marriage is valid until it is declared null and void. It is qualified in that the marriage has to be in good faith. Therefore, if these circumstances ex- ist, there would have been a communi- ty of acquests and the children would have been legitimate children. The Court of Appeal agreed with Vas- sallo that she was entitled to a pension until the marriage was declared null and void. The Court also made refer- ence Article 42A of the Social Security Act which states that the widow's pen- sion should be given to the widow, even if the spouses were divorced, in propor- tion to the period of time the spouses were married to each other. The Court held that this principle should apply in this case also. The Court of Appeal, then moved to uphold the appeal and revoked the Ar- biter's decision not to allow the Appel- lant to receive a widow's pension. Right to a widow's pension even following annulment LAW REPORT MALCOLM MIFSUD Mifsud & Mifsud Advocates