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maltatoday SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2017 News 3 MATTHEW AGIUS THE recusal of magistrate Dona- tella Frendo Dimech from hearing the case against the trio accused of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia may have paved the way for a potentially difficult situation. Under the Code of Organisa- tion and Civil Procedure, judges or magistrates may abstain or be challenged from presiding a case if related by consanguinity or affinity in a direct line, by consanguinity or affinity in the degree of broth- er, uncle or nephew, grand-uncle or grandnephew or cousin, to any of the parties. Other grounds include where the judge or magistrate is the tu- tor, curator, or presumptive heir of any of the parties; or has been the agent of any of the parties to the suit, or if any of the parties is a presumptive heir. Professional relationships count too. If the judge or magistrate had given advice, pleaded or written on the cause or on any other mat- ter connected to it in the past, or had previously dealt with the case as a judge or as an arbitrator, paid any costs or acted as a witness in a cause these are also grounds to demand abstention. Marital connections to the law- yers, whether direct or indirect are also grounds, as would be the situ- ation where the advocate or legal procurator pleading before them is a relative of the judge or magis- trate. The law is exhaustive, going so far as to contemplate situations where the judge or his spouse has a case pending against any of the parties to the suit, or happens to be a creditor or debtor in a way that could reasonably give rise to suspi- cion of a direct or indirect interest in the outcome of the case. Magistrate Frendo Dimech was due to preside over the compila- tion of evidence, which is a pre- trial stage when the police present the evidence they have against the accused. The magistrate would then decide whether there is enough evidence for the men to stand trial. But Frendo Dimech's presiding over the compilation stage was challenged by lawyers for George Degiorgio, Alfred Degiorgio and Vince Muscat, after she declared that she had been in the same class as the victim's sister in 1983, and had maintained sporadic contact since then by exchanging birth- day greetings and condolences. The defence said this could cast a shadow over the decisions she may make during the case. Although there were no legal grounds obliging the magistrate to accept the request for her recusal, because of the principles enunci- ated in the courts by the Consti- tutional court, she accepted the defence's request to step aside. Prof. Kevin Aquilina, dean of the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta, told MaltaToday that Fren- do Dimech had initially flagged the fact herself to avoid potentially jeopardising the case years down the line. Worryingly, the challenge to the magistrate could have the effect of opening the proceedings to forum shopping – facilitated by Malta's small size and the fact that Caru- ana Galizia's writings had touched upon, directly or indirectly, many of the potential candidates. Criminal cases are assigned to magistrates by lot from a pool of magistrates who handle criminal matters, but if the chosen member of the judiciary is forced to refrain from hearing the case, the replace- ment is chosen directly by the Chief Justice. "This is not a process regulated by any specific law, it is an inter- nal procedure," explains Director General of Courts Frankie Mer- cieca. In this case, while magistrate Frendo Dimech had been chosen by lot, her replacement, Magis- trate Charmaine Galea, was hand- picked by the Chief Justice. It is not impossible that such a challenge be made to every mag- istrate assigned to the case – legal sources say such a situation had happened just once, in the distant past. This is a possibility, Prof. Aqui- lina says, but it all depends on what happens in court tomorrow. "We just have to wait and see." MATTHEW VELLA UEFA, European football's govern- ing body, is asking for a suspension that will range from six months to a lifetime ban for seven Malta play- ers alleged to have been bribed in several U-21 matches. The sentencing of the disciplinary hearings is expected next week. The decision will be subject to an appeal if the defendants so choose. The seven players are Kyle Ce- sare, Emanuel Briffa, Ryan Camen- zuli, Luke Montebello, Llewellyn Cremona, Matthew Calleja Cre- mona and Samir Arab. The disciplinary proceedings were launched in connection with a UEFA investigation into allega- tions of match-fixing attempts concerning two games played by the Malta Under-21 team last year. The matches are the 2015-17 UE- FA Championship Group 1 quali- fiers, Malta vs Montenegro (0-1), played at the Hibernians Stadium on March 23, and Malta vs Czech Republic (0-7), played at the Na- tional Stadium on March 29. The witnesses were heard over the past week in the UEFA head- quarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The hearing took place before the board of control, ethics and discipline. Several of the football- ers were present in Nyon with their lawyers, while others testified through the use of video-confer- encing. Cesare and Briffa were cleared of criminal charges against them in August 2016, with magistrate Joe Mifsud finding that plans to fix the match had been abandoned before the two players had ever discussed monetary compensation. According to the law, players ap- proached with match-fixing offers have three months to inform au- thorities. In this case, police had pressed charges before the three- month period had expired, the court found. Police had filed charges against Cesare and Briffa after fellow U-21 player Seyble Zammit had admit- ted to similar charges. Zammit was spared punishment in exchange for helping police with their investiga- tions. Charges were also filed against St Julian's resident Ronnie Mackay, 34, with prosecutors alleging he served as the middle-man in the match-fixing attempts. The court found that Cesare and Briffa had been subjected to intense "peer pressure" from Zammit, an unnamed "Asian" person and oth- ers who would have been tough for them to resist. Recusal could pave way for tactical forum-shopping UEFA decision on U-21 players in Montenegro match-fixing case for next week Suspects George Degiorgio 'ic-Ciniz', Vince Muscat 'il-Kohhu', and Alfred Degiorgio 'il-Fulu'