The Criminal Court yesterday rejected an appeal by the Attorney General for former Police Inspector David Gatt to be rearrested and his bail revoked.
Dr Gatt was granted bail by Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona on Monday following a declaration by the prosecution that there were only minor witnesses still to be heard.
A police constable, Mario Portelli, has testified that, throughout a six-year friendship, he could notice that Dr Gatt was obsessed with the mafia and even called himself the Maltese version of Italian crime boss Toto Riina.
Dr Gatt is pleading not guilty to complicity in a string of thefts and attempted heists over the past three years, including the June 30 failed theft at the HSBC headquarters in Qormi that ended in a shootout with the police; the failed attempt to break into a security van carrying an estimated €2.8 million in cash in Qormi in January 2010 and the hold-up on the HSBC Balzan branch, in which robbers made off with almost €1.1 million on November 30, 2007.
In submissions on the appeal yesterday, lawyer Lara Lanfranco, from the Attorney General’s Office, said there was a long list of charges, including two of being part of a criminal organisation, something that made Dr Gatt unreliable.
Dr Lanfranco said the charges against Dr Gatt were very serious.
Defence lawyer Edward Gatt said that, according to law, during submissions on bail, the actual merits of the case could not be used as arguments, which was precisely what the prosecution was doing.
The court, he said, usually took into consideration the criminal record of the accused to see whether the prosecution’s accusation of Dr Gatt being an untrustworthy person was true. In this case, the magistrate had already done so and, in fact, Dr Gatt had a clean police record while PC Portelli had a conviction.
Mr Justice Michael Mallia said he could understand both the Attorney General and the defence team and their preoccupations. However, the court felt it had to maintain a balance in order for the proceedings to be completed without any problems.
He said the first court had meticulously considered all aspects of the case before granting bail and had even imposed stricter than usual conditions.