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8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 MARCH 2026 NEWS CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 In the circumstances, Borg is He also accused Prime Minister Rob- ert Abela of disrupting the nomi- nation process for "partisan aims". Last Thursday, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard had also suggest- ed an anti-deadlock mechanism for the role. The appointment of chief justice requires a two-thirds parliamentary majority, a safe- guard that was introduced in 2020 to ensure cross-party consensus. Sources close to the PN told MaltaToday Alex Borg is in no mood to entertain new names in the current circumstances. "He knows that Prime Minister Robert Abela is facing a crisis that could bring forward an early election, possibly by the end of May and is unlikely to agree to a new name just for the sake of it," the sourc- es said. The chief justice saga blew up from a political wrangle into a chaotic affair after damn- ing claims were made against the prime minister by Judge Lawrence Mintoff in a sworn declaration to ministers. While Mintoff is now facing a disciplinary process, Ab- ela has refrained from publicly ad- dressing the accusations. Meanwhile, a person close to Mintoff told MaltaToday, the judge is incensed at the insinua- tion made by people close to the Labour Party that he was in ca- hoots with the PN. "He never had contact with the PN and it was not the judge who leaked the sworn declaration to the press. The in- sinuation that the letter was writ- ten and leaked to coincide with his nomination by the PN is wrong; very wrong. Mintoff's name was suggested well before the letter was written," the source said. They went on to say that Mintoff has insisted with people close to him that he never asked to meet Prime Minister Robert Abela and was surprised the meeting was called in the first place. "It was the prime minister who asked for the February meeting and Mintoff attended hopeful that it was a courtesy meeting for the prime minister to simply inform him that he was government's nominee for chief justice," the source said. They added that Mintoff was surprised when in the meeting he was told certain things that did not concern him such as Abe- la's fear that the party grass roots would oppose any nomination coming from the PN. "Mintoff cannot understand why Robert Abela thought the meet- ing went well since he had made it clear that partisan concerns should not come in the way of nominating the chief justice," the source added. Mintoff denies he was in cahoots with PN Left to right: PN leader Alex Borg, Judge Lawrence Mintoff and Prime Minister Robert Abela Understanding Judge Mintoff's accusation that Robert Abela cares more about money JUDGE Lawrence Mintoff's ex- plosive letter in which he blast- ed the prime minister for op- posing his nomination as chief justice seemed to come out of a Netflix series full of politicians, judges, legalese, and dramatic music. But like those who watch such films and have little under- standing of court procedures, many outside the legal profes- sion were left scratching their heads trying to figure out what Judge Mintoff's accusations ac- tually mean. One of the main accusations in the letter dates back to the dis- astrous 2015 Paqpaqli għall-Ist- rina charity event in which a su- percar crashed into onlookers. Abela was a lawyer representing one of the parties in the civil case for damages that was being heard by Mintoff. At one point in 2018, the par- ties reached a €3.6 million out- of-court settlement and judicial proceedings were withdrawn. The judge claims that he was subsequently informed by an employee of his office that Ab- ela was applying pressure on her and the court registrar over the court expenses, which would have had a bearing on how much he would get paid as a lawyer. MaltaToday spoke to a lawyer with knowledge of civil pro- ceedings to understand what Mintoff's claims mean. Preferring to stay anonymous, the lawyer explained that after court procedures are exhaust- ed, the court registrar must de- termine how much money each party in the case is owed. The court registrar's employees han- dle the administrative side of the judicial system. The amounts owed, the law- yer said, vary from case to case similar to the way tax bands work; the higher the value of the matters discussed in a case, the more the parties can be charged. In the Paqpaqli case, the par- ties reached a settlement of €3.6 million but because this was an out-of-court settlement, the court registrar was not aware of the sum, so the amount payable to all parties was decided to be the minimum of €500. The lawyer said trying to get paid in a manner that reflects the final settlement is obvious for any lawyer. In this sense, Abela was doing what any other lawyer would do. But the main issue, the source noted, in the case raised by Mintoff is the al- legation that Abela tried to in- timidate a court employee. In his sworn declaration, Mintoff claimed that when Ab- ela failed to achieve his aim he started putting pressure on the judge's employee and even "threatened to get her sacked". Mintoff even went as far as saying that Abela at the time was implying that the judge [Mintoff] was an accomplice with President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca so that taxation is levied at the minimum value. "It is these two serious allega- tions regarding Robert Abela's behaviour that are concerning rather than the claim that the prime minister had tried to ex- ert pressure to ensure the pay- ment he was owed reflects the extent of damages paid," the lawyer said. And these allegations are now subject to two separate inves- tigations—the parliamentary Standards Commissioner, who will probe Abela's behaviour, and the Judiciary Standards Commissioner, who will probe Mintoff's behaviour. Meanwhile, Judge Mintoff's peach of a quote, "Dr Abela was more interested in money than the judiciary's independence", has already found itself on a Nationalist Party billboard. Ab- ela has so far, refused to engage in public on Mintoff's claims, insisting he will be addressing the issues in the appropriate fo- rums. The prime minister has, how- ever, asked the parliamentary Standards Commissioner to lift the time-bar on the Paqpaqli accusations since the incident cited by Mintoff may have hap- pened before the ethics czar office was created. The law pre- cludes the commissioner from probing cases that happened before October 2018. MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt