Magistrate charged with VAT offences

Magistrate Monica Vella has been charged in Gozo over VAT offences following discrepancies in her stated income, MaltaToday has learnt.

Sources close to the case confirmed that Vella was charged on 23 July after the tax authorities flagged discrepancies between her stated income from work, which she appears to have carried out beyond her duties as a magistrate.

The VAT case has been scheduled for 15 October.

According to the Code of Ethics for the Judiciary, members of the judiciary are prohibited from “the practise or exercise of any profession, business or trade.”

Vella’s caseload in Gozo had to be reassigned in March this year, allegedly because cases were progressing too slowly.

In Gozo, Vella would hear cases before the Civil Court (First Hall), Family Court, the Agricultural Rent Regulation Board, Rent Regulation Board and Court of Magistrates in its civil jurisdiction.

She presides sittings for Malta’s Rent Regulation Board, as well as the Court of Magistrates in both its civil and criminal jurisdiction.

In fact, just last Saturday, the magistrate presided over the arraignment of a 14-year-old accused of wounding two people with a knife.

Vella was appointed magistrate in 2015.