Romanian prince’s constitutional case to be reassigned after judge abstains

A constitutional case filed by a Romanian prince, who is fighting extradition to his homeland to serve a jail sentence for corruption, will have to be reassigned to another judge after the abstention of Mr. Justice Mark Simiana.

Prince Paul Philip Al Romaniei, also known as Paul Lambrino, lives in Italy but had been visiting Malta in April for an international ceremony organised by the Knights of St. John when he was arrested in the middle of it.

Lambrino had fled Romania in 2020 after being sentenced to three years and four months in jail by a Romanian court. The court had found him and 17 other defendants guilty of corruption-related offences, including trading in influence, as well as aiding and abetting a crime when he attempted to “recover” properties which he claimed ownership of as heir to the Romanian royal family.

The Romanian State argued that Lambrino had no right to the properties, and estimated the damages caused to the State to be in the region of €145 million.

Lambrino has been fighting extradition since his arrest by Maltese police in April, in the execution of a European Arrest Warrant.

Although the request for his return was initially refused, that decision was overturned after the Attorney General filed an appeal. The case was remanded to the Court of Magistrates, differently presided, which found no bar to extradition.

The Romanian had subsequently filed an appeal to that judgement, as well as a separate constitutional case in which he claimed that he would be held in inhuman and degrading conditions in Romania and that the proceedings in his homeland were politically motivated.

When the constitutional case was called before Mr. Justice Mark Simiana on Monday morning, Lambrino’s lawyers explained that they had previously declared their intention to file a request for an interim measure, which would include their client’s release from arrest, in the acts of this case.

The lawyers pointed out to the judge that in recent days, Labrino had filed two applications for bail before the court of magistrates, both of which had been refused. Last month, Mr. Justice Simiana had subsequently rejected an appeal from one of those refusals.

Lambrino's lawyers told the judge that they were fully confident in his impartiality and integrity, for which reason were not requesting the judge’s recusal, but the judge chose to recuse himself anyway, after it was explained that the lawyers would again be seeking an interim measure. 

“As it appears to the present judge that this decision would materially influence every future decision on the request for interim measures, he is of the opinion that he should abstain from presiding over the court that will decide this case,” he said.

The judge sent the acts of the case back to the registrar to be reassigned.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi and Kris Busietta assisted Lambrino, while lawyers Julian Farrugia and Nicole Fenech Cutajar represented the State Advocate in the proceedings.