Editorial

The nation is still stunned by the news given by the Prime Minister last Thursday afternoon. Dr Fenech Adami revealed that the Chief Justice, Dr Noel Arrigo (appointed only seven months ago), and Mr Justice Patrick Vella are being investigated by the police for allegedly receiving a bribe "of thousands of liri" to reduce by four years a 16-year jail term passed last year on a drug trafficker, Mario Camilleri. The reduction was in fact announced when his appeal was decided on July 5.

At the same time Dr Fenech Adami made it clear that Mr Justice Joseph Filletti, the third judge sitting on the Court of Appeal which reduced Camilleri's jail term, was in no way being implicated.

The gravity of the case was underlined yesterday afternoon when the government announced that a motion for the impeachment of the two judges is being presented in the House of Representatives after it had established that sufficient proof existed of their proved misbehaviour.

Impeachment on the grounds of proved inability to perform the functions of office or proved misbehaviour is the only way judges or magistrates can be removed from office. The motion must be approved by two-thirds of the House to be carried.

The Prime Minister on Thursday briefed the President of the Republic and the Leader of the Opposition on the case, and the latter has agreed that this should not be turned into a partisan issue, so one presumes that the impeachment motion will also have the Opposition's backing. Indeed, a national consensus is definitely needed if we are to deal with this serious institutional crisis - for this is what it is.

The allegation of corruption, in itself, has dealt a severe blow to the image and reputation of the Judiciary as an institution and has confirmed some cynics' worst suspicions. It may take very long for that image and reputation to be restored, after it had already been shaken by - among other things - Parliament's failure to impeach a judge for having failed to turn up for work for seven years while continuing to draw his salary, not to mention the fact that the maxim of "justice delayed is justice denied" continues to be flouted.

In the light of the extremely serious allegations against them, and now the announcement of the impeachment motion, one expects the Chief Justice and Mr Justice Vella to resign forthwith. If the allegations turn out to be unfounded, they would certainly be deemed to have acted honourably.

The allegations raise a number of disturbing questions, not to mention legal implications.

To begin with, the very fact that a third party has been allowed to approach the judges to discuss a pending appeal - let alone allegedly to offer a bribe to influence its outcome - is already a grave infringement of ethics and should have been reported to the police straightaway.

There is also a disturbing reflection which must have come spontaneously to many people on hearing about the allegations - namely the suspicion that now that the unthinkable (corruption of justice) is no longer so, it is not so unlikely that corruption has influenced who knows how many other court cases, and that this just happens to be the first the police could get a solid grip on.

Another point: if the allegations are proved, what happens to the Appeal Court's sentence? Does it stand? What mechanism is there to nullify a judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal - a judgment which would then prove to have been corrupt - especially since, in this instance, the Government is the "plaintiff"?

Certainly, one hopes that the investigations will take their course and that the case will be resolved in the shortest time possible. Justice must take its course, and all those implicated - from the two judges down - must answer to any charges filed against them.

The citizens of this fair land look up to the courts to uphold justice and to administer it fairly and impartially. To do this, magistrates and judges - the administrators of justice - although subject to human failings like anyone else, must be seen to be men and women of honesty and integrity.

This is essential for people to have faith in the Judiciary, which along with the Executive and the Legislative, is one of the three branches of government. If one of those branches gives way, there is a risk that the whole structure could come crashing down. This is why the Prime Minister acted correctly by informing the country as he did, thus upholding the principle of transparency in a matter so vital to the country's democratic functioning.

The priority now, whatever the outcome of the current allegations of corruption, and the impeachment proceedings, is to restore to the Judiciary the full trust and respect it deserves.