Court marshals say magistrate could not be found

Court marshals could not find a sitting member of the judiciary to be served with an application filed in a case against her, prompting the judge to order the application to be published in the Government Gazette.

Commissioner for Justice Alessandro Lia, the estranged husband, has filed an application to which Magistrate Nadine Lia needs to reply.

However, when the court marshals attempted to serve Magistrate Lia at her residence, they said they could not find her.

The law obliges marshals to serve an application, even at the respondent’s place of work – in this case, a specific hall at the law courts, in which Magistrate Lia is present daily. But the marshals still could not find her.

Like all other judiciary members, Magistrate Lia is assigned a hall in the law courts where she hears and decides cases. She also has a team of court officials, including her deputy registrar, court marshals, and a driver, who could have passed on the message that a court marshal was trying to serve the notice.

The judge handling the couple’s case had to order the publication of the application in the Government Gazette.

While Dr Lia’s application was filed in August, a time when little or no work was done in Court, and Magistrate Lia might not have been present, the Court’s administration could still have spared this embarrassing situation by communicating with her or her staff.

The application filed by Alessandro Lia involves the deposit of income from some eight properties they own together and rent out to third parties. The couple is currently undergoing separation procedures.

In a separate case filed by the magistrate’s father against his former son-in-law, the Court last week asked the police to issue criminal charges against Alessandro Lia, who also acts as a Commissioner for Justice, over alleged fraud and falsification of documents.

Following the court order, Prime Minister Robert Abela indicated that Dr Lia’s position as a Commissioner for Justice was no longer tenable. No action has been taken so far.

Although the prime minister cannot dismiss Lia, he can write to the Commission for the Administration of Justice to start the process of impeaching him.

Alessandro Lia, the son of Pawlu Lia, the Labour Party’s lawyer, is also Labour’s representative on the Broadcasting Authority.