diff --git a/syntax_checkers/java/javac.vim b/syntax_checkers/java/javac.vim
index 122a6368..2af89fe4 100644
--- a/syntax_checkers/java/javac.vim
+++ b/syntax_checkers/java/javac.vim
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ function! s:GetMavenClasspath()
         if !has_key(g:syntastic_java_javac_maven_pom_ftime, pom) || g:syntastic_java_javac_maven_pom_ftime[pom] != getftime(pom)
             let mvn_cmd = g:syntastic_java_maven_executable . ' -f ' . pom
             let mvn_classpath_output = split(system(mvn_cmd . ' dependency:build-classpath'), "\n")
+            let mvn_classpath = ''
             let class_path_next = 0
 
             for line in mvn_classpath_output