What a bloody farce this is
The Times, Friday, 31st October 2008
Appeal delays trial of former Chief Justice
Matthew Xuereb
The trial of former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo in connection with bribery charges will be delayed further after a key witness appealed a three-year jail term over his involvement in the case. The trial had been pending because businessman Anthony Grech Sant was being prosecuted separately in connection with the case. The trial was originally scheduled to start on April 18, last year but was put off indefinitely because both the defence and the prosecution planned to summon Mr Grech Sant to testify.
On October 17, Mr Grech Sant was jailed for three years after being found guilty of being an accomplice in the bribery of the former Chief Justice and former judge Patrick Vella, along with Mario Camilleri, known as L-Imnieħru, and his son Pierre, who were respectively sentenced to four and three years in prison for similar charges. However, both the Camilleris and Mr Grech Sant, a personal friend of the former Chief Justice, have now appealed the conviction. This means that Dr Arrigo’s trial will have to wait yet again.
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So does that mean that while awaiting trial on criminal charges, ex-Chief Justice Noel Arrigo is still free to practise as a lawyer? The law really is an ass.
What I find shocking too, is the fact that the persons offerng the bribe were sentenced to 3 and 4 years respectively, and yet the judge who accepted the bribe (when he was a judge, for heaven’s sake!) walked free after only two years.
[Daphne – He’s still got a warrant. So he can practise. They’ll only remove his warrant when he’s convicted. Or should that be….if he’s convicted.]
Why did Patrick Vella have a trial and Arrigo did not? Is it because Vella admitted to the crime or am I mixing things up?
[Daphne – He pleaded guilty, after first pleading not guilty, and then threw himself on the mercy of a judge, who was very merciful, got two years, and has already walked.]
Tardare si……scappare no…………..
And the former chief justice is still walking and walking and walking. Truly farcical justice.
I am disgusted at seeing ex Judge Arrigo attend weddings and private parties, as if the accused person isn’t him but his non-existent twin brother! The arrogance he spews in his frequent trips to the bar is unbelievable. Grech Sant’s appeal was orchestrated to allow Arrigo to further extend his freedom, and delay justice. Can this appeal be fast-tracked?
eros – How Arrigo can hold his head high defies my imagination, especially when he is recognised by people from all walks of life.
Some months back, I was waiting for a CityCab at the Floriana car park, when the man appeared and “happened” to get in before me.
Not one to be trampled on, I hailed the same CityCab and got in it too. Thinking he could just blend into the surroundings, he asked to be stopped close to Court. The driver recognised him, waited until he was kind-of out of earshot, and said – “Mhux suppost qieghed il-habs, dan?”