[Daphne – Good to hear from you, Edward – yes, it has been a long time. The years just roll by. I can understand where you’re coming from, but everyone has people who are close to them – it’s totally irrelevant, really. Also, we part company on the distinction between a crime and a mistake. Taking bribes from a drug-dealer when you’re chief justice is not a mistake. It’s an appalling crime. And God knows how long he’d been at it anyway, given that crooks and criminals found him so easily approachable with their offers. Haven’t you ever stopped to ask why nobody would even think of approaching Chief Justice Vincent de Gaetano or Judge Galea Debono with an ‘offer they couldn’t refuse’? There you have your answer. People knew the man was a hawwadi and a crook. Consider his family? Clearly, he was the last one to do so. I think if he had conducted himself differently during his trial, he wouldn’t have invited all those jokes. Lourdes and the rosary ring were a really bad idea. All in all, he was one big accident waiting to happen. He’s been pushing his luck for decades. Keep well.]

[Daphne – We don’t have that kind of plea bargaining system in Malta. It was all unofficial – typically Maltese. Kelma l-hawn u kelma l-hemm. It’s precisely the kind of behaviour that lands us with these sorry messes.]

I think some of the comments were written by Mr Arrigo’s friends – a concerted effort.

[Daphne – ‘everyone is bound to do mistakes’: perhaps, but taking a bribe from a drug dealer when you are chief justice is not a mistake. It’s a crime. The majority do not commit crimes.A tiny minority do.]

Laughably ignorant comment.

Also, these “do-gooders”, like Arrigo, just cannot grasp the enormity of his crime – unlike Fenech Adami for example, who looked shell-shocked at the time. For them it’s “U iva, il-Prim Imhallef ghelbitu daqsxejn it-tentazzjoni; hekk allura, mhux bniedem bhal haddiehor?”

Here it is:

http://www.pq.gov.mt/PQweb.nsf/5ab326fbcb184092c1256877002c4f19/c1256e7b003e1c2dc12575770052002c?OpenDocument

It’s 20 at Mount Carmel actually, the rest are in other institutuions. The names must have been in another report from court, which was done as a follow-up to the answer to the parliamentary question. Sorry but I could not find that one.

Leonard, I am sure you will understand, that there are ways and appropiate means in putting a point forward. I don’t think Daphne did this over the last 2 weeks. It was a very very cheap style of writing. Ask around ..