Edward Zammit Lewis

Edward Zammit Lewis (born 21 June 1973) is a Maltese politician within the Labour Party.

He has been a member of the Maltese House of Representatives since 2013.

Following the general elections held on 9 March 2013, won by the Labour Party, he was appointed to serve as Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth.

In April 2014, he was appointed Minister for Tourism, a post which he occupied up until June 2017.

An important Bill against money laundering and organised crime, Bill 160 named as Proceeds of Crime, is already in the 2nd reading process and before the Parliamentary Committee for the Consideration of Bills.

Bill 160 shall be strengthening the Asset Recovery Bureau (ARB) by providing a solid legal framework to this crucial institution.

This shall include the enhancement in human capital together with an investment of not less than €2.4million in the building of a specialised compound for the recovery of valuable assets emerging from proceeds of crime.

This prospective law shall also establish a section of the Civil Court for the purpose of regulating disputes relative to the confiscation of the proceeds of crime and for civil procedures for the recovery of assets constituting proceeds of crime.

- A new office for the Commissioner of Laws

- New offices for the Legal Aid

- New offices for the Justice Department

- New Office for the Mediation Centre

- Following the separation in the office of the Attorney General, new respective physical offices were launched;

The first office which I already inaugurated is that of the Attorney General at a magnificent building, known as Admiralty House

The new office of the State Advocate at another prominent building, Casa Scaglia, shall be inaugurated by my good self in the coming weeks.

3. Efficiency of the Judicial System

The Hon. Minister Dr Edward Zammit Lewis continues to be strongly committed in enhancing the efficiency within the Courts of Justice and the Judicial Bench.

This is mirrored by his work and that of the Abela Administration in regard to the following:

This was followed by his appointment as Minister for European Affairs and Equality in July 2019 till January 2020, when he was appointed Minister for Justice, Governance and Equality.

Being one of the few technocratic ministers and in his capacity as Minister for Justice and Governance he has worked on the ongoing reform in the Republic of Malta, which was lauded by both the Venice Commission and the European Commission.

Throughout his first ten months as Minister in the respective areas, Dr Edward Zammit Lewis has managed to reform the legislative and judicial institutions of which: the Attorney General, the Advocate of State, the appointment of the President of the Republic and the Chief Justice.

Edward Zammit Lewis has also spearheaded the change in cultural shift to introduce a change of e-courts through digitalised system, thereby ensuring that the Maltese Judicial System is among the best of its kind - both in terms of logistics and legislation.

Since being appointed as Minister for Justice, Equality and Governance, he remained committed to achieve concrete results and enhance Malta's Reputation at the international level.

From his first days in office, together with Prime Minister Robert Abela, a subcommittee on good governance was established.

The three pillars of his achievements throughout the first ten months of this tenure as Minister for Justice, are:

A historic milestone was achieved in the appointment of Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti.

For the first time in the judicial and political history of the Republic the Chief Justice was appointed by a unanimous vote, even though the benchmark set by the legal reform is that of a vote in the House of Representative which should amount to two-thirds majority in favour.

This led to an unprecedented process of Constitutional and Institutional reforms.

With the Prime Minister's thrust and political will, the Hon. Dr Zammit Lewis steered an extensive reform process of amendments concerning Malta's Constitution that no other Administration had the courage to undertake in Maltese modern history.

In January 2019, Zammit Lewis mocked Simon Busuttil's calls for an investigation into the company 17 Black in private messages to the company's owner Yorgen Fenech, who is a suspect in the 2017 assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In the messages, Zammit Lewis also mocked Labour Party supporters and referred to them as dim-witted (ġaħan).

After these messages were revealed to the public in 2021, the NGO Repubblika and the political party AD+PD called for Zammit Lewis' resignation, and Leader of the Opposition Bernard Grech announced his intention to call for a motion of no confidence in him in parliament.

Acting upon a successful ‘structured dialogue’ with the Venice Commission in June 2020, and a favourable opinion issued by the same Commission Dr Zammit Lewis translated the proposals into legislative texts.

Within two weeks he presented 10 Bills, of which 7 are now Acts of Parliament and the others are currently up for debate in parliament.

The European Commission, the Council of Europe (Venice Commission) and the most influential political news agencies in Europe, all delivered excellent feedback regarding this work.

The reforms focused on the following;

Based on all of this one further notes that parliament and politicians shall no longer be involved in these procedures.

The security of tenure to the Attorney General and the State of Advocate, as now the two Constitutional roles can only be removed from office by 2/3 resolution of Parliament

Institutional reforms spearheaded by Dr Zammit Lewis include:

2. Reforms in the justice sector and in the fight against organised crimes and money laundering