Man cleared of bribing police inspector over brothel charges

Kevin Attard was acquitted of bribery charges after Magistrate Doreen Clarke said that the 'bribery after the fact' did not exist in Maltese law

A man has been cleared of bribing a police inspector to convict two prostitutes in order to allow him to move into a flat after it emerged that the requests for payment were made by the inspector after the prostitutes were charged.

Kevin Attard had been charged with paying police inspector Jason Francis Sultana a €4,000 bribe after moving into a flat previously occupied by a brothel, the conviction and imprisonment of the owners of which the inspector had secured.

The case goes back to June 2015, when Attard had reported a couple living in a Gzira apartment because they were creating trouble in the block. Eventually the couple was arraigned by Inspector Jason Sultana and charged with, amongst other things, running a brothel in the block where they lived.

After the pair were jailed Inspector Sultana had demanded the accused pay him €800 for his part in securing the conviction. It emerged in Court that the Inspector had continued asking the accused and his partner for money, and they had ended up paying him a total of €4,000.

Sultana is presently suspended from his duties pending criminal proceedings against him on charges of bribery and corruption.

Attard, who was represented in court by lawyer Edward Gatt, was acquitted of bribery charges by Magistrate Doreen Clarke, who stated in her judgment that it had not been proven that there had been a common design or a pact prior to the conviction of the occupants and the crime of “bribery after the fact” did not exist in Maltese law.

Lawyer Edward Gatt was defence counsel.

Inspector Jesmond Micallef prosecuted.