Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono yesterday gave a clear message to the Attorney General and defence lawyers that if an accused person wanted to plead guilty or plea bargain, they should not do it just before a panel of jurors was to be appointed.

The judge made his remarks at what was meant to be the start of a trial by jury in which Simon Xuereb, 28, of Zebbug, would have been tried on charges of associating himself with others to traffic cocaine and to importing a kilo of cocaine in 2001.

The prosecution claims that Xuereb had associated himself with Norman Bezzina, Manwel Gauci, Lawrence Gatt, Carmel Cassar, Mark Cassar and Ruben Scicluna to import the drugs.

Xuereb associated himself by accepting that a mail box he had at Marsa would be used as the final address where a kilo of cocaine sent from Canada was to be delivered.

The package containing cocaine was sent, intercepted by the police, substituted and tracked as it changed hands until it reached its final destination, with arrests made along the way. Those arrested included a Maltapost employee and a Customs clearance operator.

Following plea bargaining, the Attorney General decided that Xuereb's case would be heard by the Magistrates' Court, where the maximum penalty for the offences cannot exceed 10 years' imprisonment, compared to life imprisonment in the Criminal Court.

According to law, when a person is accused of a crime that is punishable by a prison term of up to six months, the case is decided by the Magistrates' Court. When the penalty is over six months' imprisonment, the case is heard by the Criminal Court, where a judge presides.

In cases where the punishment is of a prison term of over six months but under 10 years, the Attorney General, with the consent of the accused, may send a case before the Magistrates' Court. The only exception is where drugs are involved, in which case the Attorney General alone can decide if a case goes before the Criminal or the Magistrates' Court.

The Attorney General's instructions about whether a person would be facing compilation proceedings or not are given when the person is arraigned and the Attorney General may revoke this order at any time during the proceedings. But the Attorney General cannot first order a case to be heard before the Magistrates' Court and then request that it should be heard by a superior court.

Legal sources said the Attorney General usually opts for serious drug trafficking cases to be decided by juries, where penalties are much tougher. In taking his decision, the Attorney General takes into consideration the amount of drugs involved, the criminal record of the accused and whether or not an accused testifies against accomplices or cooperates with the police before he exercises his discretion and sends a case to the Magistrates' Court.

Such decisions by the Attorney General are not open to scrutiny, the sources said.

In yesterday's case, Mr Justice Galea Debono said the case had been appointed to be heard by a jury on June, 27, 2003 and there was ample time for a declaration to be made that the trial would not take place.

"Had the court known about this and other cases where plea bargaining or admission of guilt was going to be made, at least six other trials would have been heard," he said.

"The court feels embarrassed of those 150 people who were called twice to the lawcourts so that the panel of jurors would be selected and wasted their time because what had to be done was not done on time," the judge remarked.

The court incurred expenses in booking hotels and transport each time a jury was appointed and this had all been a waste of time and money, he said.

The rather tense atmosphere in the hall was somewhat broken when one of those who were called as prospective jurors walked late into the courtroom, hands in pocket and chewing gum.

The judge caught sight of him and called him to the bench.

By the time the man took a few steps and was by the bench, he had swallowed his chewing gum and when the judge asked him what he had done with it, the man, poppy red, told him he had swallowed it. The judge asked him whether or not he had warned him at school about how harmful that could be.

Xuereb's case will now be heard by the Magistrates' Court.

Dr Josè Herrera, Dr John Attard Montalto, Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr Roberto Montalto appeared for Xuereb.

Dr Mark Said prosecuted.