Editorial

The investigation of Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and of Judge Patrick Vella goes on. It is natural that the nation is eager to learn the conclusive results that will emerge from this process.

The nation is eager because what it has before it is a matter of such national importance that government and opposition are in agreement that it will not be treated in a partisan manner. This is a far cry from the case when the impeachment motion on Judge Anton Depasqauale, last September, failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority in the House.

The nation is eager because it wants to have this shocking incident of alleged bribery of the most senior member of the judiciary and an appeals court judge behind it, the law invoked and what is seen as the gravest lapse in the history of the judiciary rectified as swiftly as possible.

It cannot understand how it was possible for such an important institution as the judiciary - a key player in the democratic game of checks and balances - to be so discredited.

At his press conference, on Thursday, the prime minister said that the police were informed that contacts had been made with the Chief Justice and Judge Vella in the name of the accused with a view to bribery.

Those contacts will, we must assume, be named when the investigation is concluded. We find it difficult to understand how these contacts were established and, like the rest of the country, anxious to learn how the police got to know about them.

In this context, the nation also feels reassured that grave as the situation is, the rule of law in Malta is being upheld in a most estimable manner.

The Police Commissioner, Mr John Rizzo, is to be commended for the manner in which he has acted so far. True, he could not have acted otherwise without sacrificing his integrity but we are at present witness to an allegation that strikes at the very root of integrity.

This reaction on the part of the law enforcers against those whose office it is to uphold the law, to dispense the law justly and unequivocally, is a positive and redeeming aspect in this alarming case.

The public recognises it as such and shocked though it has been and still is, sees great merit in the developments that have taken place, in the action that is being taken. Above all, it is heartened by the common approach being taken by its representatives in parliament.

The point that needs to be reinforced is the fact that members of the judiciary, whose sole purpose is to protect and uphold the law, are themselves not above the law. That any member should have thought for a moment that he is, that he could act wrongly with impunity, is one of the most disturbing aspects of this sorry tale.

We believe, strongly, that Malta's judicial system is sound, the overwhelming majority of its practitioners, ethically above reproach. It will weather this storm. What this event teaches us, however, is that vigilance over every institution, every professional body, is of paramount importance. The public must feel a sense of relief that it has been well exercised in this tragic turn of events.