Yorgen Fenech lawyers’ acquittal over bribery charges confirmed on appeal

A judge has confirmed the acquittal, from bribery charges, of two lawyers from Yorgen Fenech’s defence team.

Lawyers Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran had been charged by the police with attempting to bribe Times of Malta journalist Ivan Martin by handing him hundreds of euros at the end of a meeting at their Valletta office.

The lawyers had been acquitted on a technicality in June 2022, the court noting that while the lawyers had been charged with active bribery by the police, the Attorney General had indicated a different provision of law denoting passive bribery.

The Attorney General had then filed an appeal, which was decided today by Mr. Justice Aaron Bugeja, who confirmed the lawyers’ acquittal.

"Respectfully, if the Attorney General believed, as it appears the Executive Police did when they issued the charges, that the defendants attempted to actively corrupt Ivan Martin but were unsuccessful as he did not accept their offer, then the case should be considered as the special and ad hoc crime of attempted corruption under Article 120(2) of the Criminal Code. However, the note of renvoi and the sections of the law cited suggested that the Attorney General may have incorrectly viewed the defendants as accomplices in the crime of passive corruption, which did not take place," said the judge.

Lawyers Steven Tonna Lowell and Giannella de Marco were defence counsel.

Lawyer Anthony Vella appeared for the Office of the Attorney General.