A man who admitted in court to having paid a bribe to a police officer, is being held in the court's lock-up after evading questions by a Magistrate on the identity of the person he gave the money to.

The witness, Jimmy Bonavia, who lives in Zabbar, gave evidence in court this morning and chuckled several times during his testimony. He was warned by Magistrate Doreen Clarke about the seriousness of the matter at hand.

He had earlier been warned that he could be incriminating himself and could even be jailed.

Police Constable Ian Grech, of the traffic division, stands accused of receiving €700 in bribes.

Mr Bonavia told the court that he is a registered unemployed, but he has 'four or five cars including a farm tractor'.

He said that he had driven the tractor out to the middle of the road and was stopped by a traffic policeman as he did not have insurance to drive the tractor on the road. He wept before the policeman and asked to be forgiven. The policeman, however, ordered him to take the tractor logbook to police headquarters. Mr Bonavia ignored the order.

Then, Mr Bonavia said, somebody phoned from police headquarters and told him to produce the logbook immediately.

When he got to police HQ he spoke to a policeman who, he said, wore a florescent jacket.

When they moved into an office, he asked the policeman if they were alone. When the policeman said 'yes', Mr Bonavia said he told him that they could settle the matter between them.

The policeman accepted, and requested €700.

He gave him some €150 cash immediately and the policeman gave him €50 back. Mr Bonavia said he then went to a bank to draw money and he gave the policeman a further €500, which the policeman accepted.

Some time later, the same policeman phoned him, asking for a further €200.

Mr Bonavia said his brother, who works in the UK but was in Malta at the time, heard the phone call and immediately informed a friend of his, who his a police sergeant. The sergeant gave him advice.

Mr Bonavia said his brother noted down the serial numbers of four €50 notes before they were handed to the policeman, who called in an official car to collect them.

Mr Bonavia was later called to police headquarters where he identified the policeman on photographs and a DVD.

At this point, during cross examination, Mr Bonavia started laughing when the Magistrate questioned him on the identity of the policeman. He said he could  not point him out in court.

The Magistrate then stopped proceedings and ordered that the witness be held in the court lock-up until tomorrow morning, when he will be asked to testify again.