Rui Mateus Pereira, the leader of the team that is responsible for the overall management of the new computerised court system, Citius, admitted today that the programme will be overloaded within three years, if it ever gets off the ground in the first place.
According to Pereira, a new software package for the Justice Ministry is already being prepared for launch in 2017.
Citius is was launched on September 1st and simply is not working, causing courts to grind to a halt amid recriminations. The now has been an apology from the Prime Minister and a qualified one from his Justice Minister who finally admitting yesterday this the non-performance of Citius is causing ‘disruption’ for which she assumed ‘political responsibility’ but refused to admit the country’s courts are in chaos.
The president of the Association of Portuguese Judges, Mouraz Lopes, has sent an open letter to the Minister and to the Board of Magistrates requiring exceptional measures to be taken to avoid a worsening of the problems caused by Citius.
Lopes joins lawyers and judges all of whom are demanding action after the computer system’s failure to bring any benefits at all to the smooth running of Portugal’s judicial system.
Debt collection processes are not being served, which will affect the Treasury and thousands of businesses and individuals. The backlog of cases is increasing and with no assurances to the contrary the entire legal system is expecting to slow to a halt.
With the judicial system in non man’s land, many cases will run over the legal time limit through no fault of the plaintiff, and to the delight of those being prosecuted.
Debt collection processes represent the bulk of court cases and in 2011 there already was a backlog of 1.2 million such cases. The Ministry had been working hard to clear this problem and get on top of the caseload but this work now accounts for little as an increasing pile of cases waiting to be heard and judged faces an increasing depressed judiciary.
The new judicial map aimed to speed up debt resolution cases by the creation of specialised courts, an action which the Minister hope would reduce the number of disputes backing up in the system.
Enforcement officers, lawyers, officials and judges all have tried to revert to the old system but this does not recognise the reorganisation of the courts, leaving cases in cyberspace, unable to be heard. Mouraz Lopes confirmed that processes are on hold due to an inability to access Citius.
The Chamber of Solicitors which manages the enforcement officers who collect goods in lieu of debt is concerned and has received many complaints.
Officials and magistrates continue to claim that the courts are "almost paralysed," a far cry from the description by the Minister Paula Teixeira da Cruz that there are some ‘disruptions,’ for which she tales no personal responsibility, despite being in charge of the new system that has caused such damage. The irony of Citius meaning ‘speedy’ in Latin may be lost on her…
