Wenzu Mintoff

Wenzu Mintoff is a judge in the Superior Courts of Malta.

Formative education

Son of Daniel (brother of Dom Mintoff) and Astrid née' Chetcuti, Wenzu studied at the Lyceum, at De La Salle College, and economics at the University of Malta. and later law at the same University. He graduated as a Notary Public in 1983, and as a lawyer in 1984.

Occupational career

In 1983 he was part of the staff of the Embassy of Malta in New York City during the time that Malta occupied the presidency of the Security Council of the United Nations.

As a student, he worked as a clerk and a deputy registrar at the Courts of Malta. He worked for a time as a lawyer in the office of the Attorney General, in the legal office of Mid-Med Bank, and in the legal office of the Malta Development Corporation, where he became the head of said office. As head Wenzu Mintoff formed part of a team that negotiated several treaties for the protection of investments between Malta and fifteen other countries. He was also responsible for the drafting of both main and subsidiary Maltese law, especially in the fiscal area.

As a lawyer in court, Wenzu Mintoff practiced mostly in the field of civil law, commercial law, and administrative law.

Political career

In 1977, Wenzu Mintoff was elected president of the Socialist Students Association, but resigned from this post in 1985 after some Socialist students had violent altercations with environmentalist protesters. Between 1987 and 1992, he represented the Malta Labour Party in the Maltese Parliament,having won his parliamentary seat in a by-election on the second district. He was made whip and secretary of the Labour parliamentary group, but resigned both posts on 8 April 1989, after a disagreement with his political party. On 13 October 1989 he was expelled from the Labour Party, along with Toni Abela and Carmen Spiteri, but nonetheless continued to hold on to his parliamentary seat, choosing instead to represent Alternattiva Demokratika, a Greens political group which he had helped set up at this time. He also became the editor of L-Alternattiva, the newspaper of Alternattiva Demokratika.

Eventually he resigned from Alternattiva Demokratika to join the Labour Party once again, thereafter contesting in Malta's first election to the European Parliament of 2004, on behalf of the Labour Party, albeit unsuccessfully. He was also the editor of Kullħadd for some time.

Personal life

Wenzu Mintoff was born in Pietà, on 11 December 1959. He is now married to Geraldine, and has a daughter, Franziska.