A new book explores a 1973 attempt to bribe an MP and bring down a government
Book about Il-Bedeq case launched in front of Nadur house where it all began
A new book about the attempt by two businessmen to bribe Gozitan MP Anġlu Camilleri, known as il-Bedeq, to bring down the Mintoff government in 1973, has been launched.
Il-Bedeq: Riedu jixtruħ biex iwaqqa’ l-gvern by Francis Galea was launched in front of the Nadur house where on May 31, 1973, Roger Camilleri and Ronnie Said approached il-Bedeq and offered him Lm120,000 (circa €1,800,000 in today’s money) to vote against the Labour government, which had a one seat majority in parliament.
They had not realised that police inspector John Piscopo and police sergeant Spiridione Gauci were hidden in an adjacent room. The latter overheard the attempt and subsequently arrested Camilleri and Said.
Police inspector John Piscopo and police sergeant Spiridione Gauci who arrested the culprits.The debate in parliament
The book reproduces word for word the reactions of the then government and opposition members in parliament, who participated in five sittings in the Bedeq debate between June 4 and 13, 1973.
The author also gives a historical background of the first months in office of Dom Mintoff’s government, which had closed down the NATO headquarters in Malta and prohibited US military vessels to enter Grand Harbour.
Galea says that the two businessmen could not be tried in court because, while the law stipulated a two-year sentence for anyone attempting to bribe a football player, there was no corresponding penalty for anyone who tried to corrupt a member of parliament.
The government had brought a breach of privilege case in parliament where the two businessmen were tried. They were found guilty and sentenced to a maximum sentence of two months in prison.
Galea describes Il-Bedeq as a soldier of steel.
“Il-Bedeq had a large family, 16 children in all. Not only did he refuse the bribe, but he informed the police that later in the evening the accused would visit him at his Nadur home. When years later, his children joked with him and asked him why he had not accepted that ‘enormous amount of money’, Il-Bedeq replied: “I was a soldier of steel during the storm, when the Maltese Church interdicted me in the 1960s, why shouldn’t I remain a soldier of steel in times of peace?”
US ambassador informed about the incident
The book also uncovers confidential reports contained in the ‘Kissinger cables’ dating from 1973 to 1976, covering 1.7 million US diplomatic and intelligence reports, among which are political updates passed by Mario Felice, a Nationalist MP, to the American ambassador to Malta, John Getz.
On June 8, 1973, Felice met the American ambassador at the Embassy in Valletta, where they discussed the Bedeq case. He told the ambassador that “the Bedeq bribery attempt was very nearly successful”.
Felice said he had done his utmost to ascertain whether any Nationalist MP might have been involved but until then had found no evidence.
Il-Bedeq: Riedu jixtruħ biex iwaqqa’ l-gvern, published by SKS Publishers, is available at local booksellers and online from www.skspublishers.com.