MSPs will debate transparency call for register of judicial interests. ON THURSDAY of this week, the Scottish Parliament’s main chamber will host a debate on proposals to create a register of interests for members of Scotland’s judiciary, as called for in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary.
Members of the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee secured the debate, to be held this Thursday, 9 October 2014 after hearing evidence and debating proposals backed by the media and transparency campaigners calling for all members of Scotland’s judiciary to be subject to a full and publicly available register of judicial interests.
The proposal envisages creating a single independently regulated publicly available source containing current information on judges backgrounds, their positions on personal wealth, so-far undeclared earnings, business & family connections inside & outside of the legal profession, offshore investments, hospitality, details on recusals and other information which is routinely lodged in registers of interest across all walks of public life in the UK and around the world.
Petition PE1458 has been debated across several meetings at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee since early last year. In response to queries from MSPs on the lack of declarations of judicial interests, members of the Petitions Committee received numerous letters from Scotland’s top judge Lord President Lord Brian Gill - who has steadfastly refused the call for greater transparency to be applied to the judiciary in the creation of a register of interests as called for in the petition.
In response to invitations to attend the Scottish Parliament, Lord Gill has each time, refused to answer questions from MSPs on how the current system of oaths and rules regarding recusals operates.
The petition has also received submissions from other interests in the legal system including the Law Society of Scotland, the Crown Office, the Scottish Court Service, the Scottish Government, the Judicial Appointments Board, the Judicial Complaints Reviewer and a Member of the New Zealand Parliament who is also involved in creating a register of interests for judicial figures in New Zealand.
Individuals who had their lives seriously impacted by the lack of judicial transparency including now widely reported failures of judges failing to recuse themselves and failures to declare interests have also contributed to the petition.
A key evidence session on the petition took place in September 2013, attended by Scotland’s Judicial Complaints Reviewer who appeared before the full Petitions Committee to answer questions on the remit of her office. The JCR also supports Petition 1458, as 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
During a Petitions Committee meeting earlier this year, members of the Committee heard an account of a controversial private meeting held at the Parliament itself with Lord Brian Gill which excluded all but two members of the Petitions Committee. The release of notes of the private meeting revealed that Stephen Humphreys, the Executive Director of the Judicial Office for Scotland also attended the “unofficial meeting”, reported here: Judicial Transparency is “not workable” claims Scotland’s top judge Brian Gill in private meeting with Holyrood msps on register of judicial interests petition
Petition PE1458, which has been opposed by the vested interests of the judiciary itself and other anti-transparency figures in the justice system, is due to be heard again at the Petitions Committee after a fourth letter from Scotland’s top judge is received by the Public Petitions Committee. However, three weeks on from the private meeting between msps, Lord Gill and the Director of the Judicial Office, no such letter from the Lord President has been made publicly available.
A recap of video footage of previous Petitions Committee hearings on Petition PE1458:
Petition PE1458 Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary Scottish Parliament 6 May 2014
6 May 2014: The Committee agreed to write to the Lord President and the Scottish Government. Link to Official Report 6 May 2014 (434KB pdf)
Petition 1458 Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary Scottish Parliament 4 March 2014
4 March 2014: The Committee agreed to seek time in the Chamber for a debate on the petition. The Committee also agreed to write to the Lord President and the Scottish Government. Link to Official Report 4 March 2014 (403KB pdf)
Petition 1458 Register of Interests for Scotland’s Judiciary 28th January 2014 Scottish Parliament
28 January 2014: The Committee agreed to defer consideration of the petition pending receipt of a letter from the Lord President. Link to Official Report 28 January 2014 (547KB pdf)
26 November 2013: The Committee agreed to defer future consideration of the petition until after the meeting between the Convener, Deputy Convener and the Lord President. Link to Official Report 26 November 2013 (515KB pdf)
17 September 2013: The Committee took evidence from Moi Ali, Judicial Complaints Reviewer. The Committee agreed to write to Dr Kennedy Graham MP, New Zealand Parliament, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Court Service and the Scottish Government. The Committee also agreed to consider the debate that took place during the passage of the Scotland Act 1998 on section 23. Link to Official Report 17 September 2013 (597KB pdf)
Petition 1458 Register of Interests for Scotland’s Judiciary 25 June 2013 Scottish Parliament
25 June 2013: The Committee agreed to invite the Judicial Complaints Reviewer to give evidence at a future meeting. The Committee also agreed to write to Dr Kennedy Graham MP, New Zealand Parliament. Link to Official Report 25 June 2013 (499KB pdf)
Petition 1458 Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary 16 April 2013 Scottish Parliament
16 April 2013: The Committee agreed to write again to the Lord President and seek views from the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland and the Judicial Complaints Reviewer. Link to Official Report 16 April 2013 (472KB pdf) Letter from the Convener to the Lord President of 18 April 2013 (56KB pdf)
Petition PE1458 Register of Interests for Scotland’s Judiciary 5 March 2013 Scottish Parliament
5 March 2013: The Committee agreed to invite the Lord President to give evidence at a future meeting and seek further information on the proposed New Zealand legislation. Link to Official Report 5 March 2013 (361KB pdf)
Petition PE1458 Register of Interests for Scotland’s Judiciary 8 January 2013 Scottish Parliament
8 January 2013: The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government, the Lord President, the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland. Link to Official Report 8 January 2013 (474KB pdf)
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 can be found here : A Register of Interests for Scotland's Judiciary
If they say no after all this then there is something wrong BIG TIME
ReplyDeleteSome good coverage you have here and those clips very good stuff pleased to see there is someone willing to go the extra and take on the judges at last.
ReplyDeleteGood luck for this debate and all your efforts!
Lord NO NO will be doing his arm twisting to stop it going ahead
ReplyDeleteSeems unanimous you must secure this register and look at all the things that came out in the headlines will do an email to my msp asking they support it hope others do the same!
ReplyDeleteWill msps be allowed to speak freely or are the enforcers out to stifle democratic debate again??
ReplyDeleteI suppose the obvious question would be who the hell is a judge to tell msps what not to do when it comes to making the laws about judges own interests?
ReplyDeleteThe legal profession are happy for transparency but don't apply the same to them. Crooks the lot of them. Mr Gill knows if the horrible truth were known about links to big business he would have to resign. They claim it is a democracy so if it is the public should be involved in the debate.
ReplyDeleteThis video clip with Moi Ali is the best I have ever heard from inside the justice system she really knows what she is talking about and can be trusted unlike Lord Gill who says no to everything and tries to control our political process to protect his pals in the judiciary and all their dirty secrets
ReplyDeleteThey cant be allowed to get away with this secrecy just because they are judges also your register idea should apply to all judges everywhere not just in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteNobody in their right mind would ever trust the Scottish Judiciary ever again.
ReplyDeleteVery good video clips of the debates so far am impressed with your Scottish Parliament allowing this to go on there is a lot of merit in what you say and you made me think about judges their interests and why they are so angry about your petition.
ReplyDeleteThe judge has to be like everyone else in society and declare everything or they cannot be trusted if they fail to live by the same law they make us live by.
I agree this register should be made law and the judges made to disclose all their interests like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThe proposal envisages creating a single independently regulated publicly available source containing current information on judges backgrounds, their positions on personal wealth, so-far undeclared earnings, business & family connections inside & outside of the legal profession, offshore investments, hospitality, details on recusals and other information which is routinely lodged in registers of interest across all walks of public life in the UK and around the world.
ReplyDeleteWhy this has not been done before amazes me.I guess it shows the power of judges to stop the law applying to themselves and then blocking out any debate about it anywhere.
Good work hope your petition gets a proper debate it deserves.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteThis video clip with Moi Ali is the best I have ever heard from inside the justice system she really knows what she is talking about and can be trusted unlike Lord Gill who says no to everything and tries to control our political process to protect his pals in the judiciary and all their dirty secrets
6 October 2014 21:18
-----------------------------------
It was either negligent or the result of a dodgy oak panelled room dodgy deal, when MacAskill refused to increase Moi Ali's powers which forced her to resign.
The sooner Moi Ai is put in charge of a Standards Organisation For Public Life the better, that includes everything from expenses, lobbying and vested interests, which should include Judges and Sheriffs as well as the Law Society, SSDT and SLCC.
We cannot allow Scottish talent like Moi Ai to be snuffed out by the Establishment Status Quo 'nothing to see here, please look the other way' - brigade.
Well done Guys....onwards and upwards the DOI!
ReplyDeleteConfirmation if any were needed Scotland is run by a few people dressed in 18th century wigs and gowns.
ReplyDeleteAnd we have had two years of utter rubbish about a new Scotland and everything else but when it comes to Parliament really wanting to reform these judges the limits of democracy are reached and set by the top judge himself.
Quite disgusting.
The Scottish Judiciary's something for nothing culture has to be stopped.
ReplyDeleteThe Petitions Committee Chairman made a beautiful and certainly deliberate Freudian Slip when he commented that he was still awaiting for Lord Gill to provide him with his 'hysterical' record of recusals within the Judiciary.
ReplyDeleteThis show's just how divisive and irrelevant Lord Gill has made the Office of The Lord President by the character and nature of his conduct.
Clearly the Petitions Committee do not consider both Lord Gill and Kenny MacAskill to be reliable witnesses and indeed they seem to agree with the Scottish People in thinking that Moi Ali and Peter Cherbi have held the high moral ground throughout and are the only witnesses to have represented the rights of the Scottish People against the self-interest of the Status Quo.
In your first video clip, John Wilson is right in his criticism of Lord Gill's and Kenny MacAskill's anti-Public and anti-transparency views, to the extent that their respective scripts (MacAskill read from his script, like a Schoolteacher reading to Primary 1 school kids) were pre-written for them.
ReplyDeleteIt is a widely held view that Kenny MacAskill is the mouthpiece of the Law Society of Scotland and it would be no surprise if the Law Society of Scotland had remitted these pre-prepared scripts as evidence.
What exactly have the Scottish People done to deserve Kenny MacAskill and Lord Gill anyway, they are both worse than a man short.
Great points well made by John Wilson that what we have in Scotland is a self-serving Judicial System, where they have been running their own little business for themselves over a long period of time and when this little scam is threatened to be taken from them, they jealously hang on to their 'precious'?
ReplyDeleteIt stood out like a sore thumb that Chic Brodie's back-sliding is as a result of his side-meetings with Lord Gill?
ReplyDeleteMr Cherbi, seems to have touched a nerve with the undeclared and unrecused Judges and Sheriffs presiding on cases that their relatives had an involvement in?
If truth be told, this whole scandal is very smelly indeed and it would not need an Inspector Cleuseu to find out some serious miscarriages of justice?
As a leading QC said on Radio Scotland a few years ago, I have no compunction in getting my Client off with the criminal charge, even though I know he is guilty because I know that in the Scottish Courts there will be at least one miscarriage of justice perpetrated every single week?
So a leading Scottish QC, says that according to what he sees, there is anything between 50 & 100 miscarriages of justice in Scotland every year, perpetrated by Crown Prosecutors and Judges?
The Scottish Judicial System is wholly corrupt and the sooner someone with a back-bone goes through it like a dose of salts the better, beginning with Mr Cherbi's Public Spirited Petition?
There are two reasons why white collar crime gets so little attention from either the media or the judiciary system. Firstly, unlike other crimes, it is relatively unseen. No physical force is used and no one physically takes money out of the victims’ pockets. It is nowhere near as visible as muggings or shoplifting even if far more money is involved. Often the victims don’t even know they have been robbed. It is extremely difficult to find evidence and prove someone guilty of white collar crime. The second and more cynical reason is due to the type of people who commit white collar crime. They are not poor minorities but rather wealthy professionals in well connected corporations. They are the elite and use their influence to divert attention. The poor on the other hand, have no such protection and so it is far easy to penalise burglars and petty thieves than corporations and their army of lawyers.
ReplyDeleteAnd the links between the army of lawyers and those businesses benefit both to the detrement of society at large. This is the real reason they reject a Register of Interests because their invisible operations are so profitable. Yes the courts are a business and they want to keep it that way.
The fact that the Petitions Committee Convenor and Vice Convenor had a secret side meeting with no minutes taken with Lord Gill is a subversion of Parliamentary Standards and was clearly agreed to on the demand of The Lord President?
ReplyDeleteTis should have led to three very quick resignations as it goes to the root of why this type of back-slapping lack of transparency and accountability has no place in a modern Parliament and in the Scottish Judiciary?
Is this secret side meeting a common tool used by the Scottish Judiciary to get around the law?
It is clear that where Scottish Judges are concerned there is no law that cannot be got around and where secret agreements can be reached out with the scrutiny of the Courtroom?
If Lord Gill continues to demonstrate that he is not part of the solution, then he is definitely part of the problem?
The whole Scottish Public is waking up to the likelihood that for the past considerable while, Scottish Judges and Sheriffs have been taking the mickey and doubling or trebling their salary?
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of them being paid an exorbitant salary in the first place, was because they were NOT ALLOWED any other finger's in the pie and other investments because of the obvious conflict of interest this would cause and the diminution of standards and lack of trust in the Scottish Judiciary?
This is where we are now at, caused by the Scottish Judiciary's abuse of the system and undermining of their authority?
It is doubtful if this low position can be recovered from, without drastic and immediate intervention, possibly to include police involvement and arrests to try to reverse the damage caused?
The Scottish Public will not accept anything less?
You better stop calling Lord Gill a top judge.More like a top twit for going against parliament on something of such fundamental importance as transparency.
ReplyDeleteYour friends in the south!
@ 7 October 2014 21:03
ReplyDeleteGood comment and points well made.
@ 8 October 2014 08:53
Indeed ... Scotland's 72 year old top judge has been in hysterical mode over transparency for nearly two years ... just because of a proposal to require judges to be as transparent as the rest of society.
@ 8 October 2014 10:13
If the wig fits ...!
Indeed ... Scotland's 72 year old top judge has been in hysterical mode over transparency for nearly two years ... just because of a proposal to require judges to be as transparent as the rest of society.
ReplyDeleteYes I saw that.Kind of funny what Stewart said about him.Wonder how Gill took it?
Hey Harry Potter stop bothering poor old Gill he is liable to faint after 2 years of saying NONONO!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI did not vote for Lord Gill to lord it over us.He does not have the last say on who does what in Scotland.This is what is wrong with the country all these judges ordering us about and then it turns out wow they are nothing but a bunch of bankers stuffed full of money and things they are desperate to keep hidden from us.No more m'lud!
ReplyDeleteSeriously GOOD blog!
ReplyDeleteIn Reply to the comment of 7 October 2014 11:44
ReplyDeleteThe sooner Moi Ai is put in charge of a Standards Organisation For Public Life the better....We cannot allow Scottish talent like Moi Ai to be snuffed out by the Establishment.."
HERE, HERE, I SECOND THAT!
Until I read your blog I assumed judges did declare their interests!
ReplyDeleteObviously they don't and now should be investigated why not along with making your register petition law immediately.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteI did not vote for Lord Gill to lord it over us.He does not have the last say on who does what in Scotland.This is what is wrong with the country all these judges ordering us about and then it turns out wow they are nothing but a bunch of bankers stuffed full of money and things they are desperate to keep hidden from us.No more m'lud!
8 October 2014 14:18
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
I think you will find that the unseen hand dictating who does what, where, how, why or when is the power crazed Law Society of Scotland who are determined to have control over every part of Scotland and its People?
Why not just make it law and bring it on like they do with everything else anyway?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWhy not just make it law and bring it on like they do with everything else anyway?
8 October 2014 22:07
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Because the Law Society of Scotland do not want rights for the Scottish People.