Lord Gill goes to Holyrood, willing to talk about court closures, not judge’s hidden wealth & vested interests. UNDERPREFORMING Scottish courts need to be closed as part of a process to make savings of 20% in the Scottish Court Service budget by 2015, Scotland's top judge Lord President Lord Brian Gill and representatives of the Scottish Court Service told MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee earlier this week on Tuesday. The closures, already approved by the Scottish Government last year will see ten sheriff courts and seven justice of the peace courts shut down in an effort to streamline Scotland’s Victorian justice system.
Lord Gill’s attendance at the Justice Committee on Tuesday can be viewed on BBC Democracy Live, HERE. The session passed off without much ado, bar some slight signs of dispute over how the Scottish Courts Service had handled the court closures, after MSPs on the Justice Committee raised questions of why many of Scotland’s local sheriff courts buildings have been left with a £57 million pound repair backlog while Parliament House, home to Scotland’s Court of Session and the top tier of the judiciary, including Lord Gill himself, has seen well over £60 million pounds spent on it in the past five years.
Notably, the Lord President showed little difficulty discussing issues relating to the court closures, an apparently less threatening subject for Scotland’s most senior judge who has now twice refused to attend another Scottish Parliament Committee to give evidence on simple questions of transparency within the judiciary, raised in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary.
Lord NO-NO : Top Judge defies Scottish Parliament on Judiciary’s interests Last week, Scotland’s Sunday Mail newspaper, and Diary of Injustice reported on a letter sent by Lord Gill to MSP David Stewart, Convener of Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee. In the letter the Lord President again refused to accept an invitation from MSPs to discuss the current system of how judges recuse themselves and, inevitably face questions on the hidden wealth, undeclared interests and other vested interests of Scotland's closed door judiciary.
Lord Gill told MSPs the Scotland Act as it currently stands, allows judges to pick & choose what subjects they feel comfortable discussing at the Scottish Parliament, however it does not seem in the public interest that the Scotland Act is now being used by the judiciary to hide their indiscretions, criminal convictions and secret interests which are not being declared in courts as they should be.
Lord Gill’s letter stated : “Judges have from time to time given evidence to committees of the Scottish Parliament on matters that affect the administration of justice in Scotland. I hope that that has been helpful in the legislative process. Judicial participation in the work of the committees must however be kept within prudent limits.
The letter from the Lord President also pointedly reminded MSPs of a now rather Victorian era excuse of protecting the independence of the judiciary from situations which may compromise it. In this case, apparently discussing the secret interests of the judges themselves is curiously seen by the Lord President as an issue which may compromise Scotland’s judiciary over a simple issue of transparency.
Lord Gill went on in his letter to the Petitions Committee, saying : “Section 23(7) of the Scotland Act provides inter alia that the Parliament may not require a judge to attend its proceedings for the purposes of giving evidence. This is not a loophole. It is a necessary part of the constitutional settlement by which the Parliament is established. Its purpose is to protect the independence of the judiciary, a vital constitutional principle that is declared in section 1 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. When a committee invites a judge to give evidence before it, I have to decide whether the subject matter might infringe the principle of judicial independence; and whether the evidence required could be satisfactorily given in writing.”
Lord Gill has already refused to attend the Petitions Committee earlier in April 2013 to discuss issues raised in Petition PE1458, reported here : Scotland’s top judge Lord Gill refuses to attend Scottish Parliament to face questions over opposition to register of judicial interests
Previous articles from Diary of Injustice including video footage of the Petitions Committee meetings and further information on the drive to create a register of interests for Scotland’s judiciary can be viewed here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary
46 comments:
Lord Gill goes to Holyrood, willing to talk about court closures, not judge’s hidden wealth & vested interests.
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He should be sacked because he and his lawyers are not fit for purpose. They are above the law. Secrecy and justice are mutually exclusive.
Great stuff ... hopefully the sunlight you are shining in these dark corridors will be a powerful disinfectant.
Lord Gill refuses to face public questions over rich judiciary’s vested interests, criminal records, & secret wealth...........How can this possibly be justified in a so called democracy? He is not a God, omnipotent and his head is jammed in some dark place if he thinks this is acceptable. Talk about out of touch. His attitude is outrageous and if no one can take him to task then power is out of control. Shockingly arrogant, disturbingly out of tune, and above the laws he would hold people in contempt for breaking in court.
They have spent £60 million on the court of session?? Last time I was there it appeared to be the usual midden it always has been!
Sounds like this judge is underperforming by skipping parliamentary committees when he feels like it.
Now your petition has made all this clear there seems to be a lot of dishonest judges sitting in our courts.More dishonest than some of the people in front of them!
I just skimmed through the BBC video link you posted..however this is a very weird meeting in the light of recent headlines and the obvious questions which should be asked of Gill.
Even if protocol and handshakes before the meeting agreed no dodgy questions should be asked someone should have got a dig in about how grand the judges are treating themselves and their beyond the rest of us approach to things like closing all our local courts.
the country has been bankrupt for the last 5 years yet the Court of Session gets £60 million plus spent on it??
and just what benefits to the justice system did this waste of public money bring?I see none!
Lord Gill refuses to face public questions over rich judiciary’s vested interests, criminal records, & secret wealth.
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This headline tells an awful lot about the attitude and arrogance of the Judiciary. It also tells us they have one hell of a lot to hide. My question is simple. What power allows this man and his colleagues to refuse a Register of their Interests. This power is utterly corrupt and cannot stand. An omnipotent twit.
The judge continues to mock not only Parliament but also the rest of us with his ability to choose when he or his colleagues show up to speak.If anyone tried this in his court they would be arrested and thrown in jail.He does not play by the same rules he makes for the rest of us.
A clear snub to the Petitions Committee, and a veiled threat not to attend any future hearings at all.
Some democracy!
Watching that video on the beeb you'd think nothing was up however this judge is hiding something about these interests because he has not made such a fool of himself as he has for nothing.
What a shocking indictment of Scotland's justice system when your 'top judge' goes on like this.
Our public servants are now the masters. We the people of Scotland never recognised the creep(y)ing agenda that brought us to this place. Our public servants now tell us what to do, when to do it, and how much to pay.
All our institutions, that incidently once belonged to us, are awash with newspeak. Their modus operandi when confronted with questions that they do not want to answer; obfuscate, deceive, ignore.
All the over-paid leaders of these institutions shuttle between one top post and another.
They're way of doing things is corrupt, immoral and dishonest. We the sovereign people must take back which is rightfully ours - control of our institutions for our benefit - and not theirs.
If we the people do not act now we will wake up one day and find our children and grand-children no longer belong to us, but to the State. We may just have time to put the lights out before we go.
Keep up the good fight Peter Cherbi.
Jim Graham.
These provisions under the Scotland Act can only work where Scotland's Judges are honest and have characters above reproach?
Where they do not, as seems to be the case, then the Scotland Act is being used like the USA Fifth Amendment, where you refuse to cooperate and give evidence because it would incriminate you?
There are massive issues here to do with the fitness of Scottish Judges & Sheriffs to practise which is at the source of where Scotland's legal fraternity needs reformation, not whether their grand buildings are needing a touch of paint?
Thank you to all the good folks at the Diary of Injustice for your journalistic integrity and your unstinting support of the Scottish People by bringing this into the open in the Public Interest
Its purpose is to protect the independence of the judiciary, a vital constitutional principle that is declared in section 1 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. When a committee invites a judge to give evidence before it, I have to decide whether the subject matter might infringe the principle of judicial independence; and whether the evidence required could be satisfactorily given in writing.”
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What this is about is simply avoiding anyone questioning him because he believes no one has any right to question him.
The problem IS Judicial Independence, so independent in fact that we have no way of knowing if criminals are overseeing cases in our courts. Are they linked to business interests that would highlight severe conflicts of interests for Judges. Which ones have criminal records and this man expects people to accept this. Self regulation is independence from the people whose cases they are almost certainly destroying in Civil Law anyway they are all linked by a common insurer. The man and his profession are seriously out of touch with the present dissent against these judicial dinosaurs. They have one heel of a lot to hide as far as I am concerned.
"I have to decide whether the subject matter might infringe the principle of judicial independence; and whether the evidence required could be satisfactorily given in writing.”
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Lord Gill "YOU HAVE TO DECIDE"? Only you? Well you are not going to decide anything that will create transparency so you are not fit to make that decision are you.
Anonymous said...
Watching that video on the beeb you'd think nothing was up however this judge is hiding something about these interests because he has not made such a fool of himself as he has for nothing.
What a shocking indictment of Scotland's justice system when your 'top judge' goes on like this.
9 June 2013 00:30
£££££££££££££££££££££££
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Anonymous said...
Our public servants are now the masters. We the people of Scotland never recognised the creep(y)ing agenda that brought us to this place. Our public servants now tell us what to do, when to do it, and how much to pay.
All our institutions, that incidently once belonged to us, are awash with newspeak. Their modus operandi when confronted with questions that they do not want to answer; obfuscate, deceive, ignore.
All the over-paid leaders of these institutions shuttle between one top post and another.
They're way of doing things is corrupt, immoral and dishonest. We the sovereign people must take back which is rightfully ours - control of our institutions for our benefit - and not theirs.
If we the people do not act now we will wake up one day and find our children and grand-children no longer belong to us, but to the State. We may just have time to put the lights out before we go.
Keep up the good fight Peter Cherbi.
Jim Graham.
9 June 2013 05:10
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Common Purpose?
NO-NO has demonstrated that he is not fit to hold the Office of Lord President because he point blank refuses to be questioned by MSP's who are REASONABLY asking for his cooperation (hardly an onerous task) but more importantly he doesn't even bat an eyelid about convicted criminals continuing to pass themselves off as Judges/Sheriffs and that he is stuck in the past and continues to crave secrecy when it is MANDATORY FOR JUSTICE not only to be transparent but seen to be transparent?
NO-NO is only too keen to complain about the 'Independence of the Judiciary' as a pre-requisite to a democracy but if that was the case, how did the Lockerbie Scandal & the Hollie Greig Scandal happen?
The term 'Independence of the Judiciary' is being flagged up and used in the same vein as 'In the Public Interest'......?
i.e. if we quote these phrases to the public then it will allow us to pull the wool over their eyes and we will be able to do what we like with unchecked power. We will be UNTOUCHABLE?
Does anyone else see what is happening here?
Earlier this year the DOI journalists reported that around 450 cases per day in Scotland were NOT being prosecuted by the Crown Prosecutors?
This is 450 cases where the police have done their job, carried out their investigations, collected corroborating evidence and sent a report to the Proc Fiscal/Crown Office to confirm that a prosecution should follow?
The Crown then produce a variety of reasons (excuses) for explaining the 450 cases a day (16,4250 cases per year) crooks set free?
Their solution?
Shut more courts, which can only result in more people being allowed to commit crime and go unpunished leading to a lawless state?
The higher this number of crooks that are not prosecuted the easier it is for the crooks at the Crown Office to 'hide' guaranteed prosecutions against their pals to be included within this group who are Let-Off Scot-Free?
Eg the infamous 14 crooked Scottish lawyers who the Scottish Legal Aid Board reported to the Crown Office enclosing prime facie evidence that they had defrauded the Legal Aid Fund where the Crown Office let them all off and made their cases an historical statistic?
Scottish crooked lawyer committing sexual acts with a child in a public toilet etc?
I think that the Scottish Public Petitions Committee should consider putting in a vote of no confidence in NO-NO, as he has brought the Office of The Lord President into disrepute and has demonstrated that his judgement is skewed in favour of the vested interests of the Scottish Judiciary and NO-NO clearly does not feel he has to undertake the responsibilities of his job and the ethics required to act with honesty and integrity?
Self regulation did not work with MPs, banks, or lobbyists - each time the Public suffered as a result - no wonder the judges want to maintain their hold on it.
Obviously cover ups are the order of the day in Gill's courts otherwise he would have made this law himself.
and just why did that miserable lot outside Holyrood with their banners protesting justice last Tuesday not have a go at Gill as well as MacAskill because their precious courts are going to be closed?
was it because Gill would have spotted the entire gang was organised by lawyers out to make sure their income (as in ripping people off) is protected?
Lord Gill’s letter stated : “Judicial participation in the work of the committees must however be kept within prudent limits".
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Prudent for who?
NO-NO's reference to 'aggressive media' is a thinly veiled threat to Scotland's finest Peter Cherbi who is only acting in the Public's best Interest by holding the Judiciary to account for their actions?
Can we not do a trade with Zimbabwe and get their Lord President?
I hear that the Scottish Judiciary are to be sponsored by a big brand clothing company from the US of A?
www.BananaRepublic.com
Where you have secrecy you find evil
Rules are for you lot not us Scottish Judges who are above the law, just the way we like it.
With the fees Solicitors now charge and the reputation they have for delays and time wasting it is no wonder the courts are underused people are no longer using lawyers, 75% of the population are now aware what goes on in the Legal System and have decided to go down other avenues with their legal problems , and quite rightly , solicitors must be avoided at all costs.
Gill is above the law and wants to stay there. His colleagues [the fourteen] do not get prosecuted for Legal Aid fraud because they are their own police. just like him. A criminal gang masquerading as a profession, like an old building with the facade retained when the structure behind it was rotten.
What I cannot understand is this......Lord Gill obviously understands that the Scottish Judiciary must not only be above reproach but must be seen to be above reproach. So why then, given the importance of the trust the People of Scotland must have in the Scottish Judiciary, does he not adopt the belt and braces approach and enthusiastically adopt Mr Cherbi's Petition and to agree to a Register of Interests for the Judiciary to ensure the scandal that he has created is quelled?
To quote Judicial privilege is madness?
I over heard someone on the bus the other day saying that Lord Gill's tomatoes have all failed to grow in his greenhouse...............?
Turns out all of the window panes in the green house were made out of solid wood instead of glass.............?
Apparently, he is not keen on transparency..........?
Lord NO-NO, Lord fearty, too frightened to tell us where he hides his ££££££££££££ and who is involved in his secret network. Well I can see him trying the constitutional argument to hide what he really fears.
A Register of Interests MSP's Lord Fearry says don't go there.
I think Ms Moi's opinion on a Register of Interest for the Scottish Judiciary has to be highly regarded because she has personal experiences of the ducking & diving already with Gill?
She is 100% certain that a Register of Interests for the Scottish Judiciary is required?
Says a lot?
Still, secrecy and silence regarding the convicted criminals passing themselves off as judges in Scotland?
The longer this situation remains the worse this perversion of justice gets, as each of these convicts impersonating a fit judge will be continuing to hear cases, which will required to be annulled and compensated for once these traitors are rooted out and unmasked?
The Lord President Lord Gill knows the identities of this criminal gang but is keeping their identities secret from the Scottish People so that they can enrich themselves?
It is high time the Police went in there and dragged these crooks out and held them to account?
Is this a Just country or the play thing of crooks?
I have zero confidence in the way that Lord Gill has treated the Scottish Public Petitions Committee and the lack of transparency and secrecy?
I have zero confidence too in the Scottish Judiciary Lotto, as we know, thanks to the DOI Team, that at least some of them are convicted criminals and unfit to be able to act as a Judge/Sheriff as they have shown by breaking the law that their judgement cannot be relied upon and further by their continued silence and their hiding behind The Lord President is utterly contemptible conduct?
Why is it in Scotland we seem to put up with mediocre?
I did not know Gill saw himself as some kind of deity, above the laws of Scotland so much he believes he has the right to secrecy. His attitude will only exacerbate public mistrust. Perhaps if the truth came out these people would be facing criminal charges, but wait a minute no they would not the Crown Office look after their own. They really an untouchable bunch of crooks who engineered a perfect system so crooked lawyers always get through the net.
No-one is above Parliament....err, except Judges and that's official!
What a mess.
Lord Gill has already expressed his opinion that the Scottish Judicial System is unfit for purpose and is living in the past, however the recent bizarre decision by Lord Gill to refuse to carry out his duty to continue to give evidence to the Public Petitions Committee has led to calls that he is himself living in the past, clinging onto the good ole days and not wanting to be open and transparent?
I wouldn't have believed this, if it were not for seeing it with my own eyes......I was out walking the dog the other evening and low and behold I noticed that all of the window's of Lord Gill's house had been boarded up?
I thought to myself, this can only be because of the 1696 Window tax or that he has a total lack of transparency?
Self regulation never works because they are concerned with themselves. Humans love themselves more than others [it's called self interest] and the professions are the same only it is groups of like minded individuals who form a self protecting self interest network. Self regulation has been used by professionals to avoid the consequences for their actions, and the register of interests is against those people like Lord Gill. He is simply looking after himself but it should not be tolerated because like his band of crooks their decisions affect the public. Self regulation is a mechanism whereby they act any way they want because they know they will not face the courts they run. They are a self protecting and therefore utterly corrupt mafia. They don't need weapons to dominate. Their weapon is simply secrecy.
As well as Haddington, the courts at Selkirk, Duns, Cupar, Arbroath, Stonehaven, Dingwall, Dornoch, Rothesay and Kirkcudbright are due to close, as are seven other justice of the peace courts.
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Will make no difference to the victims of crooked lawyers Lord Gill, as you know too well all Scottish courts are closed to them, the lawyers make sure of that.
Anonymous said...
I did not know Gill saw himself as some kind of deity, above the laws of Scotland so much he believes he has the right to secrecy. His attitude will only exacerbate public mistrust. Perhaps if the truth came out these people would be facing criminal charges, but wait a minute no they would not the Crown Office look after their own. They really an untouchable bunch of crooks who engineered a perfect system so crooked lawyers always get through the net.
13 June 2013 12:56
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You see, in a normal Justice System (not Scotland) where Judges act with the utmost propriety and are happy to be transparent and commit to a Register of their Interests, the people of that Country treat them with the highest of respect for their Judges have demonstrated that they are honest and trustworthy and thereby they command the respect of the people?
In Scotland, the Judges try to COMMAND respect and expect the Scottish People 'to take their word for it' that they are acting according to law but at the same time that they are lying to the Scottish People, we know that some of them are impersonating being a bona fide Judge and that due to the fact that they have manufactured a false position over time where they have not been regulated and scrutinized, they have resorted to making up the rules as they go along and have played their part in bringing Scotland's Judicial System into disrepute by their actions?
Our Justice System is a sick joke members club run by the self-procalimed elite for the amusement and benefit of the elite?
Lord Gill has fumbled and bumbled so badly over this scandal that he is left clinging by his fingernails onto his position of power and the only thing keeping him there clinging on is our meek and bought-out news media, who are cynical sychophant's of the same power trip crooks?
Anonymous said...
As well as Haddington, the courts at Selkirk, Duns, Cupar, Arbroath, Stonehaven, Dingwall, Dornoch, Rothesay and Kirkcudbright are due to close, as are seven other justice of the peace courts.
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Will make no difference to the victims of crooked lawyers Lord Gill, as you know too well all Scottish courts are closed to them, the lawyers make sure of that.
14 June 2013 09:05
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Why stop at 10?
They might as well close the lot of them because the problem is not the car's bodywork, it is the engine that drives it that is heading towards the car crash?
Scotland's People have seen through the veil of secrecy and knows what is going on?
The Law Society of Scotland running and operating the SSDT & SLCC and influencing Judges to make sure that standards remain on the slide and so that they can all prey on the People of Scotland like Scottish legal vampires?
Less and less people are using Scottish lawyers because they just cannot take the risk anymore?
It is just too dodgy?
If you think of their collective efforts to break the law with impunity and damage the health and wealth of their clients causing numerous suicides and breakdowns, then this Scottish Legal Mafia (SLM) can be equated to committing atrocities against the Scottish People?
And the whole time the usurped Scottish news media organisations pander to their protection and false status?
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