A Panamanian man cleared of conspiring to traffic in drugs has had his acquittal confirmed on appeal.

Domingo Navas, 35, of Panama, had been acquitted in a trial by jury, in October 2010, of having formed part of a “drugs ring” that was importing drugs into Malta.

The Attorney General appealed this verdict, saying the judge had been biased towards the defence counsel when he congratulated the defence lawyers on a good job.

Mr Justice Ray Pace, Mr Justice David Scicluna and Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mckeon yesterday said while these things should not be said, they could not see how this had affected the verdict.

The Attorney General had also argued that the judge in the first case had misdirected the jurors on the constitution of the crime. But the Court of Criminal Appeal rejected this argument too.

Mr Navas’s co-accused, José Pena, 43, from Colombia, had been jailed for 18 years in the same trial but after he appealed, the same set of judges ruled on Wednesday that he should undergo a re-trial because of a number of irregularities.

They highlighted how the jurors were told by the judge to go by their gut feeling when considering the evidence.