The best chief justice that money can buy
Tlieta Rothmans, tazza te u mhallef, hi
So it turns out that Malta had the best chief justice that money could buy – and cheap at the price, too, unless, of course, he had been at it for so long that word had got out he was up for sale and so that man Grech Sant wasn’t just chancing his luck.
Now the judge has pretty much called Noel Arrigo a liar and a perjurer.
When delivering judgement, he said that he did not believe Arrigo, a former chief justice, but he believed Grech Sant, who went to jail for helping conduct this transaction.
So that’s what Arrigo’s word is worth, and under oath, too: less than that of a convicted felon.
So much for all that baloney about three confessors, a rosary ring, trips to Lourdes, finding God, theology courses and giving his bribe money to nuns, because what did he do then to prove what most of us could see anyway – that it was all just so much horse-shit?
This Lourdes-going, rosary-ring-wearing student of theology with three confessors kissed that cross in court, took an oath to tell the truth, and then perjured himself.
An unprincipled, self-seeking, waste of space until the end: I just can’t believe the inanity of those priests who testified as to his good character, values and principles after the judge branded him a manipulative liar driven by self-preservation. I can understand them doing it before, perhaps because they’re poor judges of character, but afterward?
Telling us that a man who’s about to go to prison for taking drug-bribes when he was chief justice has good values and that he is a man of principle? I don’t think so, honey. Stick to the confessional, because it’s a big, bad world out here. You might get eaten by wolves like Noel Arrigo.
The Earth is Christian, says Graffiti
Moviment Graffiti went down to a St Julian’s hotel to protest about climate change, taking a makeshift coffin with them. The coffin was designed to impress the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, who are gathered there to discuss whether we should all stop eating beef because the accumulated gases expelled by cows on US ranches are causing tsunamis in the Indian Ocean – and other such tosh.
Instead, the coffin impressed me. ‘Earth’ it said on the front, like a crate of drinks, and above that, the Christian cross was painted. Ah, so the earth is Christian and will require a decent Christian burial when it finally pops its clogs because of cows’ farts, long-haul holidays and bad people without solar heaters.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that the delegates inside the hotel never got to see that coffin because the protestors were moved along by former police commissioner George Grech, who heads the hotel company’s security department. Many of them are Muslim.
You’d imagine the word ‘Mediterranean’ might have given the protestors a clue to this, but no. Maybe they think Muslims are buried in coffins (if they think about it at all) and what’s more, coffins with crosses on.
Isn’t it amazing? Even though Moviment Graffiti is supposed to be really radical – though let’s be honest, nobody really radical would haul out that coffin cliché in 2009 – its members are betrayed by their nice-boy Maltese Catholic upbringing. They think all burials involve a coffin and that all coffins come with crosses on.
I’m guessing they didn’t even stop for a second to think about the significance of that cross when they painted it on, and that what they’re telling us, in effect, is that the earth buried inside was baptised into the Christian religion. All the funerals they’ve been to have involved coffins with crosses, so what do they know.
Somebody commented drily beneath the on-line news report of these shenanigans: “I was shocked and disappointed that they put a cross on the coffin, thereby excluding atheist environmentalists and those who may follow other religions. Are these NGOs theocratic organisations? Why did they opt for a Christian rather than secular coffin? Perhaps they were trying to provoke delegates from Muslim countries and start a religious conflict in Malta.”
No, sir – they’re just radicals in clothes laundered by their mothers, who have to be back home in time for lunch.
This article is published in The Malta Independent today.
24 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Two years nine months is the court’s sale price; if he appeals he can pay the full price: four years three months.
He also got a general interdiction. Probably he will try to spend some time at Mater Dei Hospital.
I think that if someone appeals, their sentence cannot be increased. So if he appeals or not, that’s the sentence he’s going to get.
Not Mater Dei – Mount Carmel:
Intant sorsi infurmati li tkellmu ma’ dan is-sit qalu li Noel Arrigo qed jinżamm fl-Isptar Monte Carmeli fuq bażi indefinita’ u jinsab taħt ir-responsabbilta’ tal-Faċilita’ Korrettiva ta’ Kordin ( http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=L%2Deks+Prim+Im%26%23295%3Ballef+ikkundannat+sentejn+u+disa%27+xhur+%26%23295%3Babs&t=a&aid=99816720&cid=39 )
It’s time for US-style Senate hearings when the executive appoints people to our institutions and government-owned corporations. As long as our parliament continues to blindly and sheepishly approve each and every government nomination, without checking their background, past and character for tell tale signs of shadiness or conflict of interest, then the show will go on as before.
Got a couple of questions that maybe your readers in the legal profession can answer.
I believe the maximum sentence was 4yrs 3mts. Noel Arrigo was convicted on all counts and he was effectively caught lying in his testimony.
How on earth did he get just 9 months more than another judge (not CHIEF JUSTICE which is worse in my book) who admitted his wrongdoing almost immediately?
Why did he not get the max penalty? Are there mitigating circumstances that I’m missing? Certainly not contrition because he kept defending the indefensible till the very end.
I am not in the legal profession, but I think I heard on radio that the judge believed that Arrigo will not turn into a criminal and that prisoner Arrigo is sorry for what he did.
[Daphne – Isn’t he a criminal already? I thought that was the point of the judgment.]
well said XK. Jesus, how can the presiding judge justify this? I certainly would not appeal, if Iwere Arrigo. It could so easily go the other way especially if the public outcry is anything to go by. For god’s sake man, just admit you brought shame to your self, your family and the profession you were supposed to serve, and accept your punishment with a modicum of dignity.
Look at Patrick Vella. Did his time and these days spends most evenings sipping his espresso, in Sliema with his moll.
Mind you…………..still an ex-con.
Vella travelled to Rome with her (plus several expensive-looking pieces of luggage) shortly after his release – possibly for a little bit of retail therapy.
Perhaps they took into account the fact that he served for a long time and did his duty in those times (as much as can be perceived at least)?
I remember reading the judge saying that one mistake does not make a bad person… so they could have considered this to be one grave mistake he did, and when they saw the effect this already had on the judge (he went to hospital they said).. they thought that sentence was enough.
Happy Thanksgiving … unless you’re a turkey.
Coffins have crosses, towers of silence have vultures and Muslims have shrouds; Jews live forever and atheists burst into flames. Obviously.
(that cash register is brilliant btw)
Is what I heard true, that he was in hospital during the trial and will be returning there?
I can’t agree with you more, about the words “crime” and “mistake” being interchangeable in Malta. Many people tend to say “zbalja” in both instances.
A police officer commits a mistake if he arrests the wrong person, but is it a “mistake” if he holds up a bank?
A fire fighter may mistakenly use the wrong fire hydrant, but is it a “mistake” if he sets his neighbour’s house on fire?
A priest may mistakenly read the wrong reading, but is it a “mistake” if he sexually abuses the alter boy?
A judge may mistakenly acquit a person due to a technicality but is it a “mistake” to accept a bribe from a convicted drug dealer?
Hopefully this may clarify the difference between a mistake and a crime.
I dont know how you manage to go to sleep at night. You are a very cruel person….you do not write articles you like gossiping around and hurting people. You insult everyone….did you ever look at the mirror.
I pity you, and suggest you go get a life and stop hurting people….I guess you heard the word Karma…and try to become a better person,cause it`s people like you that are causing pain and hatred everywhere.
[Daphne – Yes, right.]
Il-verita` twegga’ jghidu. Kompli aqlalhom, Daph. Din xi taparsi Nazzjonalista ohra? U hallina.
[Daphne – I can’t see what politics has to do with it. After all, Noel Arrigo was and is a fervent supporter of the Nationalist Party, except that he will never be able to vote again because he has been interdicted.]
Mr. Aquilina – why should anyone have any sympathy for his family? He didn’t! He should have seen these problems before – no sorry, Mr. Aquilina, I don’t have any sympathy for criminals, especially not for someone who should have known better much, much better.
@tal Muzew
Turix kemm inti injorant u tassocja kollox mal politika. La jien laburista u anqas nazzjonalista…ma nassocja ruhi ma l ebda partit.Nies bhalek idahhkuni jitkellmu hekk. U lanqas ma jien mic cirklu socjali ta Noel Arrigo ..imma sirt nafu. Jista jkun li zbalja u qed ipatti ta li ghamel…imma mhuwiex xi mostru kif qedin iggibuh jidher nil kliem taghkom. U anqas hadd m ghandu dritt jattakka lil familja tieghu..nahseb kellom bizzejjed fuq mohhom fil granet li ghaddew.
Zgur li hadha t taghlima.