Convicted Fireworks Operator Kept Licence Before Naxxar Blast

Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera convicted Edmond Saliba of illegal fireworks activity and burning protected Maltese trees, then reduced his fine and allowed him to retain his fireworks operator's licence. The court exercised its discretion on licence retention. Saliba operates the Lourdes Fireworks Factory in Naxxar, a site owned by the Lourdes San Ġwann band club and now the subject of a separate magisterial inquiry following an explosion there.

The specific charges, the original fine, the reduced amount, and the dates of the offence and judgment are set out in the court sentence, which The Maltese Herald has made available as a downloadable document. Saliba was found guilty on both counts, and the court chose to preserve rather than revoke his licence. Magistrate Joe Mifsud is leading the ongoing inquiry into the explosion.

The two proceedings are legally distinct, and the magisterial inquiry into the blast is separate from the earlier conviction. The licence-retention ruling nonetheless carries renewed weight: the operator whose licence the court preserved is now the subject of a live inquiry at the very factory that licence covered. Judge Scerri Herrera is identified as the Labour Party's proposed nominee for Chief Justice — a claim the publication asserts but which has not been confirmed by an independent official source.

The nomination has not been cited in any proceeding as bearing on the decisions she made in the Saliba case. Times of Malta published an investigation into Saliba's history on 14 June 2026.