Former judge claimed his intervention secured trafficker’s long prison stay

John Rizzo testifies in court on bribery and trading in influence charges against accomplices.

Ray Pace
Ray Pace

Judge Ray Pace had claimed that his intervention in another judge's review of a convicted drug trafficker's appeal, was intended at ensuring that Darren Desira does not get a shorter jail term.

Former police commissioner John Rizzo today took the witness stand in the criminal proceedings against bribery accomplices Ray Caruana and Sandro Psailia, recounting how the former judge - accused of bribery before taking his life while under house arrest - had claimed with interrogator Superintendent Neil Harrison that his intervention was intended at securing Desira's conviction.

Ray Caruana and Sandro Psaila are facing charges of trading in influence and attempting to bribe former judge Ray Pace.

Rizzo told the court that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had informed him that he had received recordings of telephone interceptions of conversations between the judge and the accused, after the Security Service started investigating the alleged bribery.

Rizzo then consulted on the matter with superintendents Neil Harrison, Paul Vassallo and Norbert Ciappara.

Rizzo said that Harrison had told him that Pace had already spoken to him about Darren Desira's case, who had received an 18-year jail

Term for trafficking. According to Rizzo, Pace said that his intervention in the sentencing had ensured that Desira does not receive a shorter prison term.

With this allegation in hand, Rizzo spoke to the convicted Desira. "I had tried to win his trust, but did not want to give him too much information as the case was still in its earliest stages."

According to Rizzo, Desira said that he knew who Caruana and Psaila were, also due to the fact that he owed Caruana €40,000.

On their arrest, Caruana and Psaila denied the allegations against them. Pace also denied the allegations, even when faced with the recording of the intercepted telephone calls.

Rizzo said that Psaila himself had given him the impression that he would admit to the charges once he speaks to his lawyer. Caruana later confirmed his association with Psaila, that the two men had repaired Pace's car at their own expense, treating him to free meals, and installed him a CCTV system at home again at their own expense.

Rizzo later spoke to Judge Lawrence Quintano, who had ruled on Desira's appeal, confirming that Pace had indeed approached him while he had been preparing his ruling on the appeal.

"He told me he had felt uncomfortable about Pace's presence, and that he had not allowed himself to be influenced," Rizzo said.

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Franco Debono, Rizzo said that it was Caruana who had approached Pace to influence the judge's decision on Desira's punishment, in a bid to secure the original 18-year sentence after Desira had failed to pay his debts to him.

Lawyer Franco Debono also filed a request to release the accused's assets seized by the court, saying the law allowed for the indiscriminate freezing of assets over charges that carried one year's imprisonment, irrelevant of the crime. "Applying terms from the Money Laundering Act to other crimes is a breach of fundamental rights, as there is no financial gain in cases such as this bribery case," Debono said.

Debono said Caruana had owned his business for over 30 years, but his earnings - now frozen - were not proceeds of crime and not subject to seizure. "The court should release at least part of his assets in order to safeguard the court itself from having to face a constitutional claim over the breach of human rights as well as a claim for damages."

Darren Desira's evidence was put off for the next sitting due to the absence of lawyer Gianella de Marco, who was abroad on her honeymoon.

Franco Debono, Veronique Dalli, Edward Gatt, and Jason Grima appeared as defence lawyers, while Stephen Tonna Lowell appeared in parte civile for Pace's family.