Jimmy Magro found guilty of corruption

Updated 5.45pm with Joseph Muscat comment

Jimmy Magro, a former general secretary of the Labour Party, has been sentenced to almost five years in prison after being convicted of corruption-related charges.

Magro was found guilty of trading in influence and corruption and sentenced to four years and eight months in prison during a court hearing on Wednesday. His lawyers said they intend to appeal the decision, meaning Magro’s jail sentence will be suspended until that appeal is decided.

The former political operative stood accused of having solicited a bribe in exchange for helping a bidder secure a €250,000 public contract for waste collection equipment in 2014. At the time, he was a special consultant to the Local Councils Association.

The failed bidder refused to pay the money and subsequently filed multiple reports about the alleged bribery attempt, including meeting with then-prime minister Joseph Muscat. 

The bidder testified that Muscat angrily told him "Don't come to me with these things" and crumpled up a printed email the bidder had handed him.

In comments to Times of Malta on Wednesday, Muscat said he had told Bonello to report such allegations to the competent authorities, "rather than expect the Prime Minister to intervene in a contract by the Local Councils Association, which is not a government entity."  

Bonello's continued reports about Magro eventually reached the Permanent Commission Against Corruption, which in 2018 said it was "morally convinced" Magro solicited a bribe. It would take two further years before police filed criminal charges against him.

Magro on 'our commercial take' 

Magro was the designated project leader for the tendering process and sat on its adjudicating board. 

Investigations revealed emails in which he asked Victor Bonello – the bidder who eventually filed a criminal complaint against him – to meet to discuss “our commercial take” in the project.

Magro also gave Bonello the contact details of another bidder.

He sent those emails from his personal Gmail email account, outside of office hours. Nobody else was copied in. 

Bonello testified that he met Magro at a cafeteria at Pavi supermarket. There, Magro told him that he could secure them the tender but that he needed help to cover some expenses he had, including pending taxes and an upcoming holiday.

He said Magro requested “10,000” as payment but could not recall whether that amount was in Maltese Lira or Euros. Lm10,000 amounts to roughly €25,000.

Magro's tax records corroborated Bonello's testimony, as he was paying significant amounts of tax at the time of that 2014 meeting. 

Magro's defence ridiculed by court

Magro maintained that he only wanted to discuss tendering details with Bonello and that his reference to “our commercial take” was a reference to the profits both the winning bidder and Local Councils Association stood to make from the project.

The court said that defence made no sense and that the defendant appeared to think the court “has no common sense or is indeed an imbecile”.

It also ridiculed Magro’s argument that the phrase “commercial take” came from using Artificial Intelligence chatbot ChatGPT – a tool that was only released publicly in 2022, eight years after the email was sent.

The court concluded that Magro was guilty beyond reasonable doubt of having solicited a bribe and making false declarations to benefit himself. It cleared him of having received a bribe, as there was no evidence that money changed hands. 

Apart from sentencing him to four years and eight months in prison, the court also interdicted Magro for life, effectively barring him from any public office or employment. 

Police inspector Wayne Rodney Borg prosecuted. Lawyers Michael Sciriha and Roberto Spiteri assisted the accused. The bidder who filed the criminal complaint was represented by lawyer Jason Azzopardi. 

The court was presided by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech. 

A long political career

Magro served as general secretary of the Labour Party for 12 years until 2003, when he chose not to recontest the post. He was subsequently appointed to various government posts.

He consistently denied the corruption charges and also sought damages from the anti-corruption commission, saying its report had caused him reputational damage.

Magro continued to be employed by government agency Malta Enterprise until he was 62 and also allowed to claw back €9,000 in deducted salary payments he was initially denied due to a suspension on half-pay.  

Asked about his current relationship with the PL, a party spokesperson said Magro is not a member of the Labour Party. 

'Another blow to local councils'- PN 

In a statement, the Nationalist Party said the court's ruling is "another blow to local councils". 

"A consultant appointed by the Association of Local Councils should be someone whose primary interest is the efficiency of local councils and how they can function with the limited resources left to them by the Government, not how to line their own pockets," they said. 

"To make matters worse, when the victim in this case went to speak at Castille, they turned a deaf ear. Rather than stopping wrongdoing, Castille approves it," the PN said. 

They said a PN government will return strength, autonomy, and dignity to local councils.

The statement was signed by PN College of Local Councillors president Liam Sciberras and Director of PN local councillors Emvin Bartolo.

Joseph Muscat: 'I told him to report the allegations'

In a statement to Times of Malta, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he had told Bonello, the complainant, to take his allegations about Magro to the competent authorities. 

"The implication was that the person would like me to intervene in order to keep the issue under wraps since Mr Magro previously held a position within the Labour Party," Muscat said.  "I said he should take any action that he deemed fit rather than coming to me with such a request.  I am informed he did so. This is consistent with what my predecessors used to do when they would ask anyone making allegations to go to the Police Commissioner."

Muscat noted that he had not been asked to testify in the court case.