A Transport Malta driving examiner who blew the whistle on corruption in that sector has been acquitted of having himself been bribed.

He had been suspended on half pay for eight years.

Ian Pace had initially been convicted of receiving a small amount of money as gifts. He had been interdicted and condemned to a six month suspended sentence.

Mr Pace had appealed.

The appeals court found that Mr Pace had not requested any payments, but he had received tips. That did not amount to corruption because the tips were given after the driving examinations, and not before.

The court noted that the allegations against Mr Pace had been made by the people involved in the corruption which he had revealed to the police in 2006.

He had admitted to the police, under threat of arrest for three months, to receiving tips not exceeding Lm100 (€232)  in payments of Lm5 (€11.64) , Lm10 or Lm15. He could not refuse them because of the persistence of those who offered them.

The court said the evidence of those implicated in the corruption scheme could not be considered credible since they had benefited from corruption and did nothing to stop it.

The evidence showed, and the accused had admitted to receiving small monetary gifts, after he would have completed the driving tests. However this did not constitute bribery under Maltese law since the payments were made after the act (in this case the driving exam) and not before.

The court said there was no evidence of corruption aimed at influencing the driving examiner. The amounts that were paid were very small and there was no proportionality between what he was given ans the service he had given as a public officer.

The money was presented after the examiner had done his duty and there did not  appear to have been any prior agreement.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri were defence counsel.