Two businessmen and three customs officials were given suspended jail terms over a bribery deal 17 years ago that would have saved the businessmen almost €120,000 in duty.

Alfred Vassallo, 70, and Mario Magri, 52, imported 600 cordless phones, six Panasonic video cameras and 24 gambling machines using a groupage container on three separate occasions between August and September 1992.

They had approached stevedore Marco Vella, 44, and asked him to arrange the customs papers to register the contents of the container as "other goods" in order to avoid paying the full duty on them.

Mr Vella in turn informed customs officials Pierre Cauchi, 59, and Bond Operator with Sea Malta, Raymond Farrugia, 53, that the two businessmen were offering a tip for their items to be released.

The two officials accepted although exactly how much they were paid did not transpire in the proceedings.

The police had been keeping an eye on the situation at the Customs offices as word had reached them that a lot of merchandise was being released without payment of duty, the court heard.

After the third time that goods were imported by the businessmen, the police latched onto them and carried out investigations into their previous transactions. They also carried out a search of their homes and found some of the items on which duty had not been paid.

In handing down sentence, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli took into consideration the fact that court procedures against the men only started in 1994 and that this was not their fault.

She also considered that Mr Vella had a clean police record while the others had relatively clean criminal records, before handing down a two year jail term suspended for four years and a perpetual general interdiction.

Police Commissioner John Rizzo and Assistant Commissioner Emanuel Cassar, who were both inspectors at the time, prosecuted.

Lawyers Gianella Caruana Curran, Joseph Giglio and Roberto Montalto appeared for the men.