Wednesday, September 24, 2014

NO MINISTER: Justice Secretary’s ‘scripted’ backing for wealthy top judge in register of secretive judicial interests row with Scottish Parliament

Justice Secretary says ‘No’ to msps in judges interests row. SCOTLAND’S Justice Secretary Kenny Macaskill has for the third time refused to support a plan to register all judges interests including secret wealth & links to big business in proposals currently being considered by the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee - Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary.

Writing in his latest letter to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee, one time High Street lawyer Kenny MacAskill, who, just two weeks ago handed new rights to rogue lawyers to complain about investigations into complaints, also ruled out any further powers for the Judicial Complaints Reviewer (JCR), despite calls from Moi Ali - Scotland’s first JCR for a substantial increase in powers to the ‘toothless’ office which is tasked to look into how judges handle complaints about their own colleagues.

MacAskill’s almost ‘scripted’ letter, dated 4 June 2014 - one day before Scotland’s top judge Lord Gill issued his latest anti-transparency tirade against calls for more judicial accountability is little more than a repeat of previous correspondence from the Scottish Government to msps, ceding control of the issue to Lord Gill, who firmly opposes any transparency for Scotland’s secretly rich judges.

In keeping with previous scripted responses from Lord President & Lord Justice General Brian Gill and the Scottish Government to members of the Petitions Committee, MacAskill repeated his earlier line he was satisfied the arrangements of judicial oaths and rules written by other judges kept the judiciary in check – even though it has now been revealed several of Scotland's top judges hold investments in multi national corporations convicted of criminal offences both at home and abroad.

A vested interest – MacAskill ‘s letter to MSPs investigating judicial transparency. Thank you for your letter of 8 May 2014 in relation to the above petition. I note that the Committee has agreed to seek time in the Chamber to debate the issues raised.

In advance of any debate you have asked for comments on the letter from the Judicial Complaints Reviewer (JcR) to the Committee of 23 April 2014. In that letter the JCR states that she considers it likely that the number of complaints against the judiciary would fall if there was a published register of interests for the judiciary. As I have said previously, it would be for the Lord President to establish such a register of interests in his capacity as Head of the Scottish judiciary. However, the Scottish Government does not consider there is currently any evidence to suggest that the existing safeguards - the judicial oath, the Statement of Principles of Judicial Ethics and the Rules made under the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 - are not effective and does not therefore consider that such a register is necessary.

The JCR expresses a concern that the rules about complaints against the judiciary are not fit for purpose. As you know, the complaints and discipline process created by the 2008 Act has been running for a relatively short time. The Complaints About the Judiciary (Scotland) Rules have been in operation for just over 3 years, and the Lord President is currently considering amendments to these rules following a consultation last autumn to which the JCR contributed.

The JCR is due to step down at the end of her three year term of office on 31 August 2014. My officials are currently making the necessary arrangements for the recruitment of a new

JCR who will benefit from all the hard work carried out by the current JCR in setting up this office and carrying out reviews of complaints under the new complaints procedure. They will also work with the new JCR to provide support and to consider any thoughts or changes the new JCR feels appropriate in due course.

Moi Ali has since stood down as Judicial Complaints Reviewer, having written her final annual report, which is yet to be published by the Scottish Government.

Meanwhile, members of the Public Petitions Committee are still awaiting a date for a full debate on proposals to create a register in the Scottish Parliament’s main chamber. Clerks to the Public Petitions Committee are also still trying to fix a date for the next committee debate on the petition itself, after having received requests for further issues to be discussed by msps.

JUDICIAL COMPLAINTS REVIEWER - Support for register transparency:

Last year, Judicial Complaints Reviewer Moi Ali attended the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee  to give evidence to msps on proposals to create a register of judicial interests, reported previously here: As Scotland’s top judge battles on against transparency, Judicial Complaints Reviewer tells MSPs judges should register their interests like others in public life

Writing in a recent letter to members of the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee, Moi Ali, first Scotland’s Judicial Complaints Reviewer reiterated her strong support for the creation of a register of interests for Scotland’s judges, telling msps “a register of interests is good for the judiciary and good for the public”.

Moi Ali said: “Given the position of power held by the judiciary, it is essential not only that they have absolute integrity but crucially, that they are seen to have absolute integrity. Again, a register of interests is a way of demonstrating that a judicial office holder is impartial and has no vested interest in a case –financially, through family connections, club/society membership or in any other way. Conversely, the refusal to institute a register of interests creates suspicion that in turn undermines judicial credibility. So once more, a register of interests is good for the judiciary and good for the public.”

And, responding to earlier claims from Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill that a register of judicial interests was not needed due to “safeguards” put in place by MacAskill in consultation with the same judges who now oppose a register of interests, the Judicial Complaints Reviewer told msps: “As the person appointed by the Cabinet Secretary to review complaints handled under these rules, I can say from experience over nearly three years that the rules are not fit for purpose.”

Previous articles on the lack of transparency within Scotland’s judiciary, investigations by Diary of Injustice including reports from the media, and video footage of debates at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee deliberations on Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary can be found here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Birds of a feather etc so there is something in it for MacAskill to allow rotten corrupt judges to stuff their pockets with no fear of being found out

Anonymous said...

MacAskill is Law Society through and through. His idea of justice is protection his legalized crime gang.

Anonymous said...

Moi Ali's letter is much better than MacAskill's rubbish.Needless to say it is a good thing they lost the independence vote.There will be no justice in Scotland with MacAskill backing all this pals in the legal world.

Anonymous said...

Crooked lawyers can complain about complaints??
lol only in Scotland!

Anonymous said...

Responding to earlier claims from Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill that a register of judicial interests was not needed due to “safeguards” put in place by MacAskill [DREAM ON KENNY] in consultation with the same judges who now oppose a register of interests, the Judicial Complaints Reviewer told msps: “As the person appointed by the Cabinet Secretary to review complaints handled under these rules, I can say from experience over nearly three years that the rules are not fit for purpose.” [YES EXACTLY].

These people with the exception of Miss Ali oppose justice. Unelected Judges dominate because the elected support their secret power and corruption. Scotland is governed by The Law Society of Scotland and Mr Gill.

Anonymous said...

MacAskill is so loyal Mr Gill may as well be the Justice Minister.

Anonymous said...

Mr MacAskill therefore supports a system where the public have a lack of judicial protections - people cannot protect themselves from unfair judgements by the legal profession and in most cases these judgements mean universal barring of access to justice because lawyers don't take cases against their colleagues. In my view this amounts to Judicial Dictatorship.

As Peter and many other people have found out [myself included] we do not have a justice system. The Courts are Mr Gill's and colleagues business units where judicial crimes are not regarded as real crimes because there is no authority to keep the Judiciary in awe. And Mr MacAskill is determined to keep it that way.

Anonymous said...

Take it as a complement Peter.If MacAskill had agreed to do it there must be some fiddle in the works he'd weave into it.So by saying No all those times to everything even Moi Ali you know MacAskill is in with the judges and there is a lot more to it than what he says in his letter.

Possibly something to do with the fact the judges are rotten to the core and too interested in making money to make justice and as I see people commenting on your blog it looks like a lot of cases in the courts are being mistreated because of judges unregistered interests.

Anonymous said...

Will Sturgeon keep this train wreck of a justice minister in his job?

Diary of Injustice said...

@ 25 September 2014 09:07

Lord Gill is the head of the justice system in Scotland ... MacAskill can do nothing without prior consultation with the Lord President ... even on how new powers are applied to the JCR.

The entire system of justice in Scotland is dishonest from top to toe and it is a given now when a vested interest wins a ruling in Scottish courts there is dishonesty and special interests at work.

@ 25 September 2014 10:35

"Too interested in making money to make justice" ... sums it up very well.

@ 25 September 2014 11:25

Time will tell although both are former solicitors so unless there is a sea change in the Scottish Government to really help victims of the justice system by appointing someone with the necessary clout and a genuine desire to work for justice, do not expect any change ...

Anonymous said...

Proves democracy is a sham when the will of the electorate can be cancelled out by a bunch of pensioner judges too worried about their shares and bank accounts!

Anonymous said...

MacAskill's letter - As I have said previously, it would be for the Lord President to establish such a register of interests in his capacity as Head of the Scottish judiciary. However, the Scottish Government does not consider there is currently any evidence to suggest that the existing safeguards - the judicial oath, the Statement of Principles of Judicial Ethics and the Rules made under the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 - are not effective and does not therefore consider that such a register is necessary.

What an utter lot of bullshit.

You can just feel the corruption oozing out of that statement.Disgusting.Rotten to the core.

Anonymous said...

Wonder how much this is costing the judges to keep off the beeb.All very strange the nation's state broadcaster forgets to mention the entire judiciary is on the take!

Anonymous said...

Who trusts a man who let a convicted terrorist free anyway

He only did it for political gain nothing else so no surprise he is dumping on all you people in Scotland

Anonymous said...

This should be condemned as an afront to democracy and MacAskill sacked and any judge opposing transparency cannot be a judge they are totally against any principles we need in a modern Scotland.

Anonymous said...

Obviously MacAskill, a firmer solicitor, is not impartial and should never have been given the position of justice secretary in the first place.

He is also clearly content to remain stubbornly ignorant of the clear failings of the present system and the public's justified and valid complaints regarding it.

No wonder the majority in Scotland do not want to be govered by the likes of him.

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows MacAskill is a twit so I'm not surprised he chooses to support corruption.Good thing you lot did not get independence eh!

Anonymous said...

On a side note and maybe off topic I just want to say your intro picture kind of sums up the whole SNP indy stuff in a nutshell.MacAskill and his cohorts were urging us to vote YES in their own fear campaign for their pretendy government but in reality MacAskill goes around telling everyone NO all the time when something really needs done.

Maybe you should have put this up before the referendum to show the hypocrisy of the SNP elite who run things their own way for their own interests.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Crooked lawyers can complain about complaints??
lol only in Scotland!

25 September 2014 02:20

Yes everything in Scotland is run by lawyers and you get to find that out when something happens to you or your family and you try to put it right by using one of the scumbags.

If all the people in Scotland who have been done over by lawyers or had their lives ruined in one way or another by lawyers and their friends it would be a good to get a decent debate going and educate people to stay away from lawyers and their brethren including their corrupt friends in the judiciary.

Anonymous said...

Lord Gill is the head of the justice system in Scotland ... MacAskill can do nothing without prior consultation with the Lord President ... even on how new powers are applied to the JCR........So what you are saying is Mr Gill is an unelected dictator because he has total control of the justice system and skews it to their judicial advantage. Where did he get this power? It is criminal.

Anonymous said...

Lord Gill is the head of the justice system in Scotland ... MacAskill can do nothing without prior consultation with the Lord President ... even on how new powers are applied to the JCR........So what you are saying is Mr Gill is an unelected dictator because he has total control of the justice system and skews it to their judicial advantage. Where did he get this power? It is criminal.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
MacAskill is Law Society through and through. His idea of justice is protection his legalized crime gang.

24 September 2014 21:46
:;:;:;:;:::;:;:;:;:;:;:;:,:,:,:;:,:;:;:,:,:,:,:,:

It is almost as if the Law Society of Scotland write the tripe scripts that MacRaskill so patronisingly and smugly reads out, with utter contempt for the Scottish People?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Responding to earlier claims from Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill that a register of judicial interests was not needed due to “safeguards” put in place by MacAskill [DREAM ON KENNY] in consultation with the same judges who now oppose a register of interests, the Judicial Complaints Reviewer told msps: “As the person appointed by the Cabinet Secretary to review complaints handled under these rules, I can say from experience over nearly three years that the rules are not fit for purpose.” [YES EXACTLY].

These people with the exception of Miss Ali oppose justice. Unelected Judges dominate because the elected support their secret power and corruption. Scotland is governed by The Law Society of Scotland and Mr Gill.

25 September 2014 08:11
-----------£££££££--------£££££££-------

The SNP's reason for existence seems to be to create a Scotland that is designed for crooked Scottish lawyers, beurocrats and the judiciary, where the rest of the useless-eater Scottish Public are only allowed to survive to serve these crooks?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
MacAskill is so loyal Mr Gill may as well be the Justice Minister.

25 September 2014 09:07
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Or, MacAskill is so loyal to Mr Gill, some may say he is his bitch?

Anonymous said...

This downward spiral of standards has been driven by the maniacal Law Society of Scotland, who protect their pals from jail.

I sent a Freedom of Information request to every police area in Scotland, before the joined up into one Police State Force and it was no surprise that the Law Society of Scotland have Never, NEVER reported one of their member crooked Scottish lawyers to the police?

Instead in every single case, usually where the victim has gone to The Press or DOI journalists, the Law Society of Scotland go to their Scottish lawyer counterparts/ members at the Crown Office, so that they can negotiate for the Crown Office to let the crooked Scottish lawyer off SCOT-FREE?

This is subverting the Rule of Law by by-passing the police?

The reason they do not go to the police is that there would be a police paper-trail-of-written-evidence which would be more difficult to cheat their way around?

Quite simply, the Law Society of Scotland are a subversive and criminal organisation, who break-the-law-everyday-for-fun?

Today's Judiciary is yesterday's Scottish lawyer who have been formed by the Law Society of Scotland's dishonest, disreputable and unlawful system?

Anonymous said...

The word on the street is that MacAskill is a goner. He has become a liability to even the Law Society of Scotland because his bias towards them and the Judiciary (also Scottish lawyers) has become too noticeable?

Anonymous said...

MacAskill always backs the money and the judges have money so he is backing them
Did anyone bother to check out how much money MacAskill was hoping to bring in by releasing Megrahi?he doesnt do compassion so there must have been money for the government at the end of it somewhere so better get digging and find out!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Obviously MacAskill, a firmer solicitor, is not impartial and should never have been given the position of justice secretary in the first place.

He is also clearly content to remain stubbornly ignorant of the clear failings of the present system and the public's justified and valid complaints regarding it.

No wonder the majority in Scotland do not want to be govered by the likes of him.

26 September 2014 11:57
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This smug and deliberate obtuseness is treating The Scottish People with utter contempt and as Second Class citizens?

The message is that 'We' run Scotland for ourselves and you are all here to serve us?

Anonymous said...

Crooked lawyers can complain about complaints??
lol only in Scotland!

25 September 2014 02:20

Yes everything in Scotland is run by lawyers and you get to find that out when something happens to you or your family and you try to put it right by using one of the scumbags.

If all the people in Scotland who have been done over by lawyers or had their lives ruined in one way or another by lawyers and their friends it would be a good to get a decent debate going and educate people to stay away from lawyers and their brethren including their corrupt friends in the judiciary.

27 September 2014 23:52
------------------------------------------

The time has long since passed where it has become known for certain that the Law Society of Scotland are a criminal organisation, who make it a practise of theirs to regularly defeat the ends of justice and collude with the other 'so-called' Regulators of Scottish lawyers to let crooked Scottish lawyers off with breaking the law?

It would be far simpler, safer & cheaper to go to a People's Arbiter who would sit and consider each dispute between two parties and come to a binding solution?

This way Scottish lawyers would be deprived of their easy prey on the Scottish Public and the Judicial System too would become obsolete and redundant?

This is what it has come to?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
MacAskill always backs the money and the judges have money so he is backing them
Did anyone bother to check out how much money MacAskill was hoping to bring in by releasing Megrahi?he doesnt do compassion so there must have been money for the government at the end of it somewhere so better get digging and find out!

30 September 2014 01:08
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The answer is as obvious as the nose on your face.

MacAskill made Megrahi promise never to reveal that the case against him was a fraud and a sham in exchange for his freedom?

Tis had nothing to do with compassion and more to do with a discredited and untrustworthy Justice Minister covering up for the criminal scam that was the prosecution of Megrahi on consecrated ground at The Hague by the Scottish Justice System?

I am sure the plan is to keep this a secret from The Scottish People until all of the individuals involved have either died or have retired on super-fat pensions?

Anonymous said...

And the irony is that they claim to be working FOR Scotland!