Drug pusher's lawyer testifies on indications about original jail term

The prosecutor in the drugs case that eventually led to a former Chief Justice being charged with corruption had told the defence lawyer that imprisonment was unlikely to exceed 12 years, a judge heard yesterday.

Lawyer Emmanuel Mallia was testifying before Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo who is presiding over the trial of ex-Chief Justice Noel Arrigo. Dr Arrigo is pleading not guilty to charges of bribery and trading in influence in July 2002 following the reduction of a drug trafficker's jail term.

Dr Mallia said he had represented Mario Camilleri, known as L-Imnieħru, who was facing charges of drug trafficking. Lawyer Mark Said, from the Attorney General's Office, who was conducting the prosecution, had told him there were strong indications that it was unlikely that his client would be jailed for more than 12 years.

When Mr Camilleri was jailed for 16 years, the family of the accused accused Dr Mallia of having tricked them.

Dr Mallia had asked Dr Said why he had mentioned the 12-year jail term and Dr Said replied there was nothing they could do at that point. He promised Dr Mallia he would raise the matter in the appeal submissions.

The witness said that three or four days before the judgment by the appeals court had been delivered, he had a meeting with the Chief Justice, the Court Registrar and the prosecution where what Dr Said had told him was explained.

The Chief Justice had summoned the other two judges to be present too but only Dr Vella could be found and the situation was once again explained.

This was a form of plea bargaining, Dr Mallia said, noting that at the time such a procedure was less formal than what happened today. During the plea bargaining process the prosecution retracted the charges of relapsing and money laundering.

Alex Arrigo, the son of the accused, also testified yesterday, explaining that he was a director in his father's private company, NMArrigo. He also explained that his godfather was Anthony Grech Sant, who was jailed for 20 months on appeal for his involvement as a middleman in Dr Arrigo's alleged bribery.

He said Mr Grech Sant was a personal friend of his father's. They were old school friends and would play golf together and even tennis.

He could only remember Mr Grech Sant calling at the office three or four times between 1996 and 2002, when the case came to light. His godfather would buy cigars from him, he added.

Mr Arrigo said he also knew the other middleman involved, Joseph Zammit, Is-Sej, who once went to their offices to ask him for a sponsorship for a football tournament, which never materialised.

The second time Mr Zammit had gone round to the offices, they had spent two hours talking to each other. "It was small talk," the witness said. Mr Arrigo said that towards the end of the conversation, as a parting comment, Mr Zammit asked how he could get in touch with his father.

The witness said he had asked Mr Zammit for his number and had done so to get rid of him because his father had always told him that if someone ever asked to speak to him about his job such person should not be encouraged and the encounter should be concluded.

When asked whether his father knew Mr Zammit, Mr Arrigo said he assumed his father did because Mr Zammit was well known as a con-man.

He said that Dr Arrigo and the company's general manager, Joe Galea, would meet every Saturday morning at the company's offices except maybe on a public holiday.

Mr Arrigo said he would travel to the UK with his father and they would drive from Manchester to London. While there his father would see a priest, Fr Saviour Grech, and would confess. His father had another two confessors, Fr Savio, from the Salesians of Don Bosco, and Fr Daniel, who was the parish priest of Żebbuġ.

Mr Justice Joseph Filletti, who was one of the three judges that sat on the Criminal Court of Appeal that handed down the judgment in question on July 5, 2002, testified that he had spoken to nobody about the judgment except for the other two judges - Dr Arrigo and Patrick Vella, a former judge who has served time in connection with this same case. He declared that nobody had approached him about the case either.

The judge said that on the day in question five appeal judgments had been handed down, including Mr Camilleri's, whose jail term was cut from 16 to 12 years.

Dr Vella had drafted all five judgments and then passed them on to them for consideration. Mr Camilleri's case was one where it was a matter of calibrating the punishment since it was an admission, Mr Justice Filletti said.

He suggested that the jail term should not be below 13 years, judging by the evidence in their possession. Dr Vella had said he needed more time to draft them and so the case was put off.

About a week before the judgments were meant to be handed down, he had received an envelope in his chambers containing the drafts including that of Mr Camilleri's case. Two were confirmed, two were reformed and one where the accused was released. He agreed with them.

After checking Mr Camilleri's judgment, Mr Justice Filletti said he went to the former Chief Justice and asked him why the judgment had been changed when they all had agreed that the term should be reduced to 13 years. Dr Arrigo had explained that he and Dr Vella had reconsidered the judgment and Dr Vella felt that, under the circumstances, 12 years was more fair than a 13-year term. At that point, when he had the Chief Justice and Dr Vella saying so, he felt he should not insist. "I didn't see anything suspicious", he said.

Since both the Chief Justice and Dr Vella had assured him that they had taken everything into consideration including his recommendation, Mr Justice Filletti said he left it at that.

He said a meeting between the prosecution and the defence counsel about the judgment had taken place but he had not been present.

A former employee of Dr Arrigo's company, Charmaine Depasquale testified that Mr Grech Sant used to visit the company's offices in Valletta two to three times a month. Mr Grech Sant used to buy cigars from them.

Mr Zammit had visited once or twice.

Another employee, Victor Cremona, said that at that time he used to handle Zippo lighters that the company imported. He could recall that Mr Grech Sant used to purchase items from the company. Mr Zammit had called there once or twice and once he remembered that Mr Zammit had enquired about some football sponsorship.

Dr Arrigo's former driver, Alan Bonnici, said he had found out from Renato Zampa, a Valletta jeweller, that Mr Grech Sant had been arrested.

Mr Zampa had asked him to find out why from the Chief Justice because they were neighbours. Mr Bonnici said he informed Dr Arrgio immediately because he knew that Mr Grech Sant was a close friend of the Chief Justice.

The case continues on Monday.

The head of the Prosecution Unit at the Attorney General's Office, Anthony Barbara, together with lawyer Lara Lanfranco prosecuted.

Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Robert Abela appeared for Dr Arrigo.