News • 11 May 2003

Judges court case continues

Out of the public eye in pre-election run-in

The court case against former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and Justice Patrick Vella continues tomorrow when further evidence will be brought before the court.

On 1 August 2002, a bombshell had hit Maltese society and especially its judiciary: the Prime Minister announced to the media that two judges, one of whom was Chief Justice at the time had reduced the prison sentence of a convicted drug dealer in return for substantial amounts of money. The two judges resigned soon after the announcement, but while the case cause a furore at the time, it was completely out of the public eye over the past few months.

In a run up to a general election and considering leader of the Opposition Alfred Sant’s strong words on the matter during 2002, it is more than strange that the case was not once again brought to the public’s attention.

It may have been in the best interests of the PN in government to fan the fires, but while the case remained on people’s minds, public expression was not forthcoming, with the government clearly focusing on the EU issue.

Former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and judge Patrick Vella are free men, able to enjoy the pleasures of sipping coffee in elegant cafes and shopping in downtown boutiques, but an uncertain fate awaits them.

When elections appear on the horizon in Malta everything seems to stop, government departments and cabinet members concentrate almost solely on their re-election and any decision that could lose even a couple of votes is put on hold. Of course there is the usual fanfare of favours and tax refunds spiced up with some official openings held either early or too late.

The judiciary should not fall into the same traps of many in the political class, yet for some reason the case fell out of the public eye, and was not brought up during the referendum and election run-in.

Attorney General Anthony Borg Barthet told MaltaToday the case is "not the only case before the courts and diaries gave to be coordinated in the light of everybody’s (judges and lawyers) other commitments, I do not think there has been an unreasonable delay."

In fact the court case concerning the compilation of evidence before the court of Magistrates was sent to the AG on 10 April, two days before the general elections. While it is possible that other sittings were held in the meantime, the last record of a sitting related to the case that appeared in the media was on 24 February 2003.

This was when Justice Joseph Filletti, who had sat in the Court of Criminal Appeal in its superior jurisdiction with then Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and then Justice Patrick Vella, said he had never been ‘approached’ or knew of anyone who had been approached or who had approached a member of the judiciary in all his time as a judge.

It will be remembered, by those with a good memory, that Noel Arrigo and Patrick Vella stand accused of accepting bribes amounting to Lm5,000 each to reduce the jail sentence of one Mario Camilleri from 16 to 12 years on the 5 July 2002. The judges also stand accused of revealing official secrets in relation to the same case.

First former chief justice Arrigo, who also runs a business bearing his name, and then Vella, resigned their posts.

The two wily judges have since tried to wrangle their way out of prosecution by claiming that the Prime Minister’s announcement made on 1 August, especially when Dr. Fenech Adami stated that "it resulted that money was paid to the mentioned judges after the appeals sentence" prejudiced their case, but the appeal was turned down.

The judges had felt the proceedings had violated their right to a fair hearing and their presumption of innocence unless proven otherwise as contemplated by the Constitution of Malta and the European Convention for the Protection of Human, but the court decreed that the Prime Minister’s statements did not prejudice the case.

In June last year Camilleri admitted to accusations of drug trafficking and the Criminal Court presided over by Justice Vincent Degaetano sentenced him to 16 years in jail and fined him Lm25,000. Camilleri had been under preventive custody since 1997 and the time he spent under arrest was to be deducted from the sentence.

Days before the Court of Appeal was to deliver its judgement the Police received information that an individual acting on behalf of Camilleri contacted Mr Justice Patrick Vella and Chief Justice Noel Arrigo in a bid to have the prison term reduced by four years. The Police were also informed that the two judges were promised ‘thousands of pounds’ each.

When the sentence was delivered on 5 July the prison term was reduced as had been allegedly agreed. Further Police investigations aided by the Secret Service revealed that the two ‘implicated’ judges received a considerable sum of money each.

Witnesses were first interrogated on 27 July after Judge Patrick Vella returned from abroad. The interrogations continued last Thursday, 1 August with both judges being summoned to Police headquarters for interrogation by a police team led by Commissioner Rizzo.