Pensioner gets suspended sentence for laundering son’s drugs lab cash

Two-year jail sentence suspended for four years for Mario Brignone, with €20,000 fine for money laundering proceeds from son’s crack-cocaine drug lab

1 August 2023, 4:23pm
by Matthew Vella

2 min read

Josef Zammit (pictured) was charged along with his father with aggravated drug possession and money laundering (Photo: Facebook)

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A 68-year-old pensioner was fined over €60,000 and earned a two-year prison sentence suspended for four, on money laundering charges.

A criminal court president by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech decreed that Mario Brignone, while guilty of laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking, had been caught up in a world of criminality contrived by his son Josef Zammit, 30, of Marsaskala.

The elderly man and his son, already on on two sets of bail conditions each, were last year remanded in custody on aggravated drug possession, money laundering and bail breach charges.

Brignone, 68, of Bormla and his son, Josef Zammit, both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The charges were connected to the discovery of a crack cocaine lab and various hard drugs in a property under their control.

A search of Brignone’s house turned up cash hidden inside domestic appliances. A key found under the doormat, matched an abandoned residence opposite, where more drugs and cash were found, together with equipment used to manufacture crack cocaine. Police there found almost €15,000 in cash, with investigations revealing he had withdrawn some €8,800. Brignone, a pensioner, receives just over €700 a month from a state pension, and told police he had a gambling addiction.

The Court said the accused did not have a “worrisome” criminal record, but that he had only admitted to the charges when the defence was asked to submit its evidence. “The accused was trying to hide the proceeds from drug trafficking, a crime in which the accused is benefiting from the addictions of his victim. At 68, the accused should have known better yet the Court has to consider that he is caught up under the control of his son and his criminal life. As agreed with the prosecution, a jail sentence for the accused would not be appropriate, given that the amount laundered was of just over €15,000.”

Apart from the suspended sentence, Brignone was fined €20,000, ordered to pay over €24,000 in court expenses, and forfeited the €20,000 deposit paid for his conditional release.

Defence counsels for Brignone were Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri.

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...