A former ADT employee has been acquitted on appeal of accepting a €5 bribe when he worked as a clerk with ADT.

The Magistrates Court had found him guilty of accepting the bribe and jailed him for six months suspended for 18 months.

The accused worked at ADT between April and July 2006, when the alleged crime was committed. He used to process the certificates of people who had carried out and passed the theory driving test.

In November that year, the authority asked the police to investigate how a number of people who had failed the theory test were being called to sit for the practical test.

These people were presenting photo copies of a pass certificate that did not exist.

At this time there were two people processing the certificates – Mr Gatt and another man, who had admitted to taking bribes for accepting false certificates.

After Police Inspector Angelo Gafa had testified that during investigations it never resulted that the accused knew that the certificates that were being presented to him were false.

There was only an allegation by a man named Stephen Mallia, who worked as a driving instructor with Swallow Garage, who said he sometimes took false certificates to be processed by Mr Gatt.

Mr Mallia said Mr Gatt processed the certificates during his lunch hour so that he would not have to wait in the queue.

Mr Mallia said that on two or three occasions, he had passed on a €5 note to the accused.

In his appeal, Mr Gatt argued that, according to law, bribery after the fact did not constitute a crime and a prison term, even though suspended, was a hefty punishment.

Mr Justice Michael Mallia concluded that the amount paid was minimal and should be considered to have been a tip for the accused having worked during his lunch hour.

There was no proportionality between how much he was paid and his service as a public official. He also received the tip after he carried out the work.

Lawyers Joe Giglio and Stephen Tonna Lowell appeared for Mr Gatt.