Former chief justice to head probe into lawyer's offer of cash to Times journalist

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca sailed into a storm of controversy last Monday after attempting to hand over a number of €500 notes to journalist Ivan Martin. The two lawyers are part of a legal team representing Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of conspiring to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

The Committee will investigate two members of Yorgen Fenech's defence team over an offer of cash to a Times journalist
The Committee will investigate two members of Yorgen Fenech's defence team over an offer of cash to a Times journalist

Former Chief Justice and retired ECHR judge, Vincent de Gaetano, will be heading a committee investigating two criminal lawyers over an alleged attempt to bribe a Times of Malta journalist.

Lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca sailed into a storm of controversy last Monday after attempting to hand over a number of €500 notes to journalist Ivan Martin. The two lawyers are part of a legal team representing Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of conspiring to murder journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

Martin has described how, after a meeting in Valletta on Monday with both lawyers, he had been handed “between two and four” €500 notes, by Caruana Curran, which he rejected.

Martin instead reported the matter to his editors. The incident is now the subject of a police investigation.

Lawyers for the Caruana Galizia family say the attempt at payment amounts to bribery under the Criminal Code and have filed a court application demanding a police and magisterial investigation into the issue.

The issue was referred to the Committee for Advocates and Legal Procurators, a sub-committee of the Commission for the Administration of Justice, headed by the president of Malta. The committee is set up by law with the purpose of investigating complaints against the professional conduct of advocates and legal procurators.

If it finds there has been misconduct by an advocate or legal procurator in the exercise of their profession, the committee may ask that the commission recommend suspension, perpetually or for a specific period, from the exercise of the legal profession.

The recommendation would go to the prime minister who would then advise the President to suspend the lawyers’ warrants.

The Committee may choose to hand down an admonition and make recommendations to them that it deems fit in the circumstances. A fine of up to 10% of the attorney general’s salary (around €6000) may also be imposed.

The proceedings before both committee and commission are not open to the public, according to law.

Caruana Curran had admitted that “remuneration was offered” but he and Mercieca have also claimed that the journalist was “posing as an investigator.” Martin has denied this.

A chamber spokesman said that the lawyers’ warrants cannot be suspended pending the investigation and that only after a “comprehensive investigation finds a breach” such a suspension can be enforced.