Court finds enough reasons for indictment

A magistrate yesterday ruled that there were enough reasons for the indictment of 19 people charged with conspiring to deal in drugs in Malta and Italy.

Magistrate Carol Peralta ruled for indictment at the end of a six-hour sitting mainly characterised by legal submissions on bail by both parties.

Magistrate Peralta is presiding over the compilation of evidence of:

Emanuel Camilleri, 37, better known as il-Bully, his girlfriend Trudy Testa, 27, of Mqabba, his former girlfriend champion bowler Sue Abela, 36, of Sliema, and his brother John, 34, of Mqabba.

Mario Camilleri, 40, l-Imniehru, his wife Mona, 30, of Valletta and his son Pierre, 20, Charles Muscat, 35, il-Pips, his wife Yvette, 38, of l-Iklin and Alfred Bugeja, 44, il-Porporina, and his brother Albert, 30, of Gzira.

Anthony Gatt, 49, and his girlfriend Carmen Armeni, 41, of Mqabba and Armeni's sister Sylvana Bugeja, 29, of Gharghur, Romeo Bone, 26, of Floriana, Isaac Chetcuti, 25, of Sliema, Noel Borg, 29, of Bahar ic-Caghaq, Daniel-Victor Bonnici, 26, of Burmarrad and Juma Said Karfoosh, 35, of Hamrun.

All but Abela are charged with:

¤ conspiring to traffic in cocaine and cannabis on May 30 and in the previous six months and

¤ conspiring in Malta to commit a crime abroad on May 30 and in the previous six months.

Abela was charged with:

¤ conspiring to traffic in cocaine and cannabis on May 30 and in the previous seven years and

¤ conspiring in Malta to commit a crime abroad on May 30 and in the previous seven years.

Chetcuti is also charged with the possession of cannabis plant and resin on August 1 and in the previous six months.

Sylvana Bugeja is also charged with the possession of cannabis plant and resin on August 3 and in the previous six months.

Charles Muscat is also charged with the possession of heroin on and before August 8.

Emanuel Camilleri, Mario Camilleri, Alfred Bugeja, Bone and Chetcuti are also charged with relapsing and Bone is also charged with breaching the conditions of a previous release.

Emanuel Camilleri is the only one who opted to file a guilty plea to all the charges brought against him.

The prosecution yesterday called several police constables and sergeants to the witness stand, all of whom gave an overview of their involvement in the investigations.

They were followed by Monique Borg who chose not to answer to any of the questions put to her after she was cautioned.

Magistrate Peralta then moved on to give the ruling regarding the request made by the defence lawyers, on Friday, to appoint a court expert in order to examine the signatures and handwriting on warrants authorising the interception of telephone conversations.

The magistrate ruled that the path imposed by the law on the present court could not be overlooked. He denied the request on the grounds that it was the present court's duty to compile the evidence and not to determine whether evidence was valid or not.

He said that whether the warrants were valid or not did not fall within the present court's jurisdiction because their validity did not have an influence on whether or not they were admissible as evidence.

Among other things the magistrate noted that, as was laid down in article 627 of the Security Service Act:

"acts by the Government of Malta, signed by the minister or by the head of the department from which they emanate, or in his absence, by the deputy, assistant, or other officer next in rank authorised to sign the acts... shall be admissible in evidence without the necessity of any proof of their authenticity other than that which appears on the face of them, and shall, until the contrary be proved, be evidence of their contents".

All the defence lawyers, except for the lawyers of Mario Camilleri, Emanuel Camilleri, Charles Muscat and Alfred Bugeja, then made their legal submissions on bail.

The prosecution objected to all the requests mainly on the grounds that there was the fear that, if granted bail, the defendants might commit another crime and because of the serious nature of the charges.

After evaluating the individual circumstances Magistrate Peralta granted bail to nine of the 15 defendants for whom bail was requested on humanitarian grounds. He also took their criminal record and their apparent involvement in the case into consideration.

Sue Abela, Mona Camilleri, Yvette Muscat, Albert Bugeja, Armeni, Sylvana Bugeja, Chetcuti, Bonnici and Borg were granted bail on condition they do not leave their house without authorisation from the court, that they turn up for all court sittings and that they do not approach any of the prosecution's witnesses.

They were also bound by a personal guarantee of Lm5,000 each.

Testa had been granted bail under the same conditions on arraignment.

Pierre Camilleri, John Camilleri, Bone, Gatt and Karfoosh were remanded in custody.

The case continues.

Police Inspectors Neil Harrison and Norbert Ciappara are prosecuting.

Dr Jason Azzopardi, Dr Ian Farrugia and Dr Kris Busietta are appearing for Mario and Pierre Camilleri, Dr Azzopardi is appearing for Mona Camilleri, Dr Michael Sciriha, Dr John Attard Montalto and Dr Ian Farrugia are appearing for Emanuel Camilleri, Dr Farrugia is appearing for John Camilleri.

Dr Joseph Giglio is appearing for Bone, Chetcuti, Gatt, Armeni, Sylvana Bugeja and Karfoosh, Dr Giannella Caruana Curran and Dr Emanuel Mallia are appearing for Charles and Yvette Muscat.

Dr Anna Mallia is appearing for Testa, Dr Martin Fenech appeared for Borg, Dr Franco Debono is appearing for Bonnici, Dr Chris Grima and Dr Kenneth Grima are appearing for Abela and Dr Joseph Brincat and Dr Deborah Attard are appearing for Albert Bugeja.

Alfred Bugeja chose to appear unrepresented.