Magistrates Leonard Caruana and Elaine Rizzo to be promoted to Judges

Magistrate Leonard Caruana and Magistrate Elaine Rizzo will be promoted as Judges, the Office of the President of Malta said in a statement on Thursday.

Caruana is the magistrate who heard the case against now Foreign Affairs Minister Chris Fearne, former Finance Minister and Central Bank governor Edward Scicluna, and a host of other civil servants in connection with the Steward Health Care hospitals concession.

In a statement, the Office of the President noted that after the public call made on 17 July 2026 for the appointment of two new Judges, 21 eligible individuals submitted an expression of interest to the Judicial Appointments Committee for the post.

The Committee is, by law, tasked with providing a shortlist of three candidates who were the most suitable and deserving of the role.

The shortlist for the first post was of Magistrate Leonard Caruana, Magistrate Elaine Rizzo, and Magistrate Gabriella Vella. 

Caruana was selected by the President to take up the post of Judge.

The shortlist was then made up of Magistrates Rizzo and Vella together with Magistrate Jean Paul Grech, and the President selected Magistrate Elaine Rizzo to take up the post of Judge.

Caruana has been a member of the judiciary for five years after he was called to the bench in June 2021, while Rizzo has also been a member of the judiciary since 2021, which is when she was appointed as a magistrate.

The appointments mean that Magistrate Gabriella Vella has once again missed out on the post of Judge. 

Magistrate Vella has found herself in the crosshairs after she ran the magisterial inquiry into the Vitals and Steward hospitals deal which lead to charges being issued against former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his then Chief of Staff Keith Schembri, former star minister Konrad Mizzi, and a host of other prominent individuals.

The President congratulated the newly appointed Judges and thanked the members of the Judicial Appointments Committee for the meticulous work they have carried out.

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