Guilty of trying to bribe driving examiner

A 66-year-old man was found guilty of trying to bribe an examiner so that an employee of his son would pass the driving test.

The court heard that Saviour Grech had accompanied Anthony Scerri to a driving test to acquire the D licence qualifying him to operate a bus.

The examiner, Raymond Deguara, testified that Mr Grech had thrown a Lm10 note onto his lap and, after asking him to put the money away, Mr Grech ignored him but Mr Deguara threw the note back.

Mr Scerri testified that he had worked as a minibus driver for Mr Grech's son for a long time and had applied to take the test because his boss had buses but no drivers.

It resulted that Mr Grech's son was the owner of the vehicles that Mr Scerri wanted to get a licence.

Mr Grech categorically denied the charges. However, the court found the instructor's version of events more credible and handed down a five-month jail term suspended suspended for 18 months.

Police Inspector Angelo Gafá prosecuted.