Former Justice Secretary calls for top judge to appear at Holyrood. SCOTLAND’S as yet unnamed new top judge who will take on the role of Lord President & Lord Justice General – is to be called to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s three year probe on creating a register of interests for judges as called for in Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary.
The call to hear from the new top judge was made by former Justice Secretary and Petitions Committee member Kenny MacAskill MSP during a brief discussion of Petition PE1458 at last week’s meeting of the Public Petitions Committee on 1 December 2015.
Calling on whoever is named to be Scotland’s new top judge, Kenny MacAskill said: “We have heard from the previous Lord President and I think that we should hear from the new Lord President, whoever he is likely to be—I do not think that there is a “she” on the shortlist. That appointment is likely to be made in the next week or so, so there is still time for him to appear before us.”
The petition calls for the creation of a publicly available register of judicial interests containing information on judges backgrounds, their personal wealth, undeclared earnings, business & family connections inside & outside of the legal profession, offshore investments, hospitality, details on recusals and other information routinely lodged in registers of interest across all walks of public life in the UK and around the world.
The proposal to require judges to declare their interests enjoys cross party support, and was widely backed by MSPs during a full debate in the Scottish Parliament’s main chamber on 9 October 2014 - reported in full with video footage of MSPs and Scottish Ministers speaking during the Holyrood debate, here: Debating the Judges.
Petition PE1458 Register of Interests for Judges Public Petitions Committee 1 December 2015
Judiciary (Register of Interests) (PE1458)
The Convener: Our next petition is PE1458, by Peter Cherbi, on the creation of a register of interests for members of Scotland’s judiciary. Members have a note on the committee’s previous consideration of the petition and the submissions from the petitioner.
Do members have any comments?
Kenny MacAskill: We have heard from the previous Lord President and I think that we should hear from the new Lord President, whoever he is likely to be—I do not think that there is a “she” on the shortlist. That appointment is likely to be made in the next week or so, so there is still time for him to appear before us.
The Convener: In that case, we will write to the new Lord President, as we said that we would.
Decision: The Committee agreed to write to the new Lord President once appointed.
During an earlier evidence session held on 10 November 2015, MSPs on the Public Petitions Committee heard from former Lord President, Lord Brian Gill (73) – who suddenly retired in May 2015 - after serving three years as Lord President & Lord Justice General - one of the shortest terms of a Lord President in recent history.
Lord Gill vehemently opposes any call for judicial transparency and calls to require judges to disclose their interests, and twice refused invitations to appear before MSPs to give evidence on the probe into judicial interests.
Gill spent two of his three years as Lord President writing a series of eight angry letters to the Public Petitions Committee, calling on MSPs to exit the petition and any discussion of judicial transparency – reported in detail here: Top judge branded media & public aggressive in attempt to avoid interests register & judicial transparency
The stormy evidence session with Lord Gill, reported here: Sparks fly as top judge demands MSPs close investigation on judges’ secret wealth & interests saw ex top judge Brian Gill hound MSPs on three occasions with demands to close the petition.
Video footage of Lord Gill’s terse 50 minutes evidence to MSPs is available here: Evidence of Lord Gill before the Scottish Parliament 10 November 2015.
Highlights of the former top judge’s vested interests must remain secret approach include:
In an angry exchange with MSP Jackson Carlaw, Lord Gill demanded to control the kinds of questions he was being asked. Replying to Lord Gill, Mr Carlaw said he would ask his own questions instead of ones suggested to him by the judge.
And, in responses to independent MSP John Wilson, Lord Gill dismissed media reports on scandals within the judiciary and brushed aside evidence from Scotland’s independent Judicial Complaints Reviewers – Moi Ali & Gillian Thompson OBE – both of whom previously gave evidence to MSPs in support of a register of judges’ interests.
Facing further questions from John WIlson MSP on the appearance of Lord Gill’s former Private Secretary Roddy Flinn, the top judge angrily denied Mr Flinn was present as a witness – even though papers prepared by the Petitions Committee and published in advance said so. The top judge barked: “The agenda is wrong”.
And, in a key moment during further questions from committee member Mr Wilson on the integrity of the judiciary, Lord Gill angrily claimed he had never suspended any judicial office holders.
The top judge was then forced to admit he had suspended judicial office holders after being reminded of the suspension of Sheriff Peter Watson.
Several times during the hearing, the retired top judge demanded MSPs show a sign of trust in the judiciary by closing down the petition.
Questioned on the matter of judicial recusals, Gill told MSPs he preferred court clerks should handle information on judicial interests rather than the details appearing in a publicly available register of interests.
Lord Gill also slammed the transparency of judicial appointments in the USA - after it was drawn to his attention judges in the United States are required to register their interests.
In angry exchanges, Lord Gill accused American judges of being elected by corporate and vested interests and said he did not want to see that here. However, the situation is almost identical in Scotland where Scottish judges who refuse to disclose their interests, are elected by legal vested interests with hidden links to corporations.
Scotland’s first ever Judicial Complaints Reviewer (JCR) - Moi Ali gave backing to the the judicial transparency proposal during a must watch evidence session held at Holyrood in September 2013.
Scotland’s current Judicial Complaints Reviewer Gillian Thompson OBE also backed the petition and the creation of a register of judicial interests during an evidence session at Holyrood in June 2015.
Previous articles on the lack of transparency within Scotland’s judiciary, investigations on judicial interests 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
20 comments:
The fact is Lord Gill damaged the debate on your petition so much anyone else from the judiciary who pitches up to vouch for vested interests is going to sound like a crook and we all know it.
Best move forward is for Holyrood to pass your petition into law regardless of lobbying from bitter judges and their vested interests.
Oh and well done to MacAskill for calling in the new Lord President whoever they may be!
Lord Gill's position is simply ' No-one else has a register of interests for judges so it is clearly not necessary'.
This is obviously a fundamentally flawed opinion, lacking any objective rationale to support it and a product of a purely subjective interest tainted by Lord Gill's inbuilt institutional bias.
It is also quite clearly wrong in that Scottish Judges who accept a position in the House of Lords do happily sign just such a register of interests - and moreover while being available to act as a temporary judge in the Court of Session, Lord Hardie being one example.
So what is to stop Scotland following the Westminster Parliament example, in a word NOTHING.
Surprisingly short.
Tells you a lot in what they did not say - as in debating the evidence (if you can call it that) from Lord Gill in the last meeting..
You make a convincing case for judges declaring their interests and I hope we are told the truth about why they are so dead against it!Very unfair how they get away with secrets they dont allow in court!smells of corruption!
dig dig dig! do judges have any sense of reality or are they all as closed minded as Gill?
I kind of get the sense people are now becoming aware of this courtroom dictatorship club and time it is put a stop to.
When is the next Lord Bung of the Bung of Session due to appear?
ANNOYING this is going on for so long when everybody except judges and those in their pockets know the right thing to do is make judges declare their interests ages ago!!!
HAHA cannot wait to see Lord NO-NO NUMBER TWO begging parly to let the judiciary keep their dirty interests and seedy private lives secret!!Gill really screwed everything up for whoever gets his job!!
Hmm the Kenny MacAskill quote referring to the new Lord President "That appointment is likely to be made in the next week or so, so there is still time for him to appear before us."
Still time? before what exactly?
Why is it whenever someone asks for openness honesty flies right out the window and we are left with all kinds of double talk and carefully choreographed scripts talking away the original issue so nobody knows what the original question was.
I also read the committee papers for this meeting and one of the recommendations from whoever was to close your petition on the grounds what you were asking for (a register of interests) is not achievable.Anyone can check this just go here http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_PublicPetitionsCommittee/Meeting%20Papers/20151201_Papers.pdf
The recommendation I quote is on page 20 of the meeting papers for 151201 and it says ii. "To close the petition under Standing Orders Rule 15.7 on the basis that the action called for in the petition would not satisfy the objective that the petitioner appears to be looking for."
How the hell did someone come up with this after three years when you are asking for the same kind of register of interests filled out by every MSP and just about everyone else on the go in politics down to local councillors!
I saw John Wilson in one of the video clips raise this very point and Lord Gill talked over him just like he talks over everyone else.No one supported Mr Wilson's point and this was very sad because he is correct in what he said you are asking for more than just the assets of judges on a register.
This is very clear to me and anyone reading your petition on the Scottish Parliament website you are asking for a full register of interests.All the newspaper coverage says the same this is all about interests including links and assets,hospitality and everything you would expect in a register of interests.
I do not like how some people are trying to twist this away from the basic everyone in Government including the justice system are supposed to be open and transparent about their interests and when they are caught out have to face the music like everyone else and this has to include the judiciary!
We should all support a register for judges interests!
Noticed none of the msps had the chance to comment on Lord Gill's extreme evidence last time around!Was this out of fear or have they already discounted Gill's over the top rant as the embarrassment it is..
Time to call time on the judges fiddles and institute this register of interests methinks
Looks like they dont rate this Lord Gill much so lets see what happens next.
Remember this is the Parliament that gave us the Scottish Legal Cover up Commission. Cathy Jamieson's (Improving Client Confidence Reforming the Complaints System) was like Judges oaths, Bull***t. It was never meant to protect the public and please do what DOI said and avoid lawyers and the corrupt courts as far as possible. Spare yourself the agony of being left right less against the Scottish Legal Mafioso. They are criminals BECAUSE of self regulation, if they were dealt with fairly they could not be corrupt because they would never work as lawyers again.
All those seams of rewards and riches for the Judges, at least miners need to dig for gold. A Register of Interests would expose those big business seams pouring wealth into the Judges pockets. Yes a Register would show the corruption at the top of a secretive Masonic faction perverting justice in the courts against the Scottish public.
If you want to check out how parly and the Scottish Gov treats legislation and false promises to us folk just look at what they are currently doing to the lobbying bill and land reform all watered down to bits in the name of vested interests
Anonymous said...
Remember this is the Parliament that gave us the Scottish Legal Cover up Commission. Cathy Jamieson's (Improving Client Confidence Reforming the Complaints System) was like Judges oaths, Bull***t. It was never meant to protect the public and please do what DOI said and avoid lawyers and the corrupt courts as far as possible. Spare yourself the agony of being left right less against the Scottish Legal Mafioso. They are criminals BECAUSE of self regulation, if they were dealt with fairly they could not be corrupt because they would never work as lawyers again.
9 December 2015 at 12:09
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Remember, the LPLA Legislation was confessed to be an exercise to 'change the perception of the Scottish Public', so that they 'think' that the Regulation of Scottish lawyers was being changed, when in fact they had cut a deal with the Law Society of Scotland to ensure that it was to be business as usual, to allow the Law Society of Scotland to continue their crimes against the Scottish Public?
The Elephant in the Room.
If Scottish Judges were simply acting as independent arbiters and deciding for the winning side of a court case, based on the weight of evidence then surely Scottish Judges have no real power?
However, this Petition and the Judiciary's reaction to it seems to be all about power, vested interests and secrecy?
This tells you all you need to know about how far standards have fallen in Scotland?
At lest no cap doffing to Lord Gill this time around!
"The petition calls for the creation of a publicly available register of judicial interests containing information on judges backgrounds, their personal wealth, undeclared earnings, business & family connections inside & outside of the legal profession, offshore investments, hospitality, details on recusals and other information routinely lodged in registers of interest across all walks of public life in the UK and around the world."
sounds clear enough to me what kind detail you are looking for in the register of interests for these judges!
and someone must answer the question why judges have gotten away with keeping their interests secret for so long.
The slip from Kenny on the gender of the Lord President hopefuls is an interesting choice of words.Someone from the judiciary will be grinding their teeth over his comments!
If taken at face value this sounds like Scotland will not have a first female Lord President.I did read somewhere you were backing a female candidate?What think now?
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