Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543384
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 FEBRUARY 2026 NEWS CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 On Friday the sources said that government had communicated Hayman's name to the Opposi- tion. Neither Abela nor Borg have publicly mentioned either of the names they are proposing for the post currently occupied by Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti. After the government and Opposition failed to agree on his successor, Chetcuti stayed on despite reaching 68. He will remain in office until a new chief justice is appointed. The appointment requires a two- thirds parliamentary majority and thus cross-party consensus. Earli- er this month, the prime minister pushed ahead with a parliamen- tary resolution proposing Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera despite not having achieved consensus on her name. The Opposition voted against the motion, scuppering Scerri Herrera's nomination. Alex Borg has persistently re- fused to discuss names in public, insisting that talks between him and the prime minister should re- main confidential. The PN leader had accused the prime minister of breaching his trust when he had publicly announced Scerri Herre- ra's nomination. The sources said Mintoff's name had always been in the mix but there seemed to be reluctance within some quarters of govern- ment. Mintoff's age, 66, is a factor that militates against him since he would have to retire in two years' time when he reaches 68, as per constitutional requirements. Who is Judge Mintoff? Known colloquially as Wenzu Mintoff, he is the nephew of the late Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. He had started his po- litical career in the Labour youth wing but took a stand against the violence that characterised the PL administration of the 1980s. Mintoff was elected to parlia- ment in 1987 on a Labour ticket but was kicked out of the party after he stood up to the violent el- ements who still gravitated within the party despite its electoral de- feat. Mintoff went on with others to set up Alternattiva Demokratika in 1989, which he led until 1998, when he stepped away from the party. Mintoff re-joined the PL and in 2004 even stood as a can- didate for the European election. In 2014, he was made a judge by then Labour Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. During his swear- ing-in ceremony, Mintoff pledged to "work with honesty, impartial- ity, fairness and a sense of equal- ity". Known for his studied judg- ments, Mintoff has delivered landmark rulings over the past 12 years. In 2022, Mintoff annulled a private agreement between the government and hunters' lobby group FKNK over the transfer of land in Miżieb and L-Aħrax to be used as hunting grounds, insisting the agreement did not conform to the law. In 2024, when dismissing Yor- gen Fenech's case to remove Su- perintendent Keith Arnaud from the Daphne Caruana Galizia mur- der investigation, Mintoff's ruling contained a scathing assessment of Keith Schembri's conflict of in- terest in his role as chief of staff at the Office of the Prime Minister— which gave him access to sensitive information—while maintaining a close relationship with Fenech. Chief justice appointment requires two-thirds parliamentary majority Judge Lawrence Mintoff