Two men who had been jailed and fined for their involvement in a cigarette smuggling racket had their conviction overturned on appeal.
Michael Borg, 43, from Paola, and Shannon Cauchi, 29, from Ħamrun, had been charged in 2013 alongside three others with conspiring to smuggle thousands of contraband cigarettes into Malta, thereby evading thousands of euros owed to the public coffers.
Last June, they had been given a three-year jail term and fined €488,000 each.
Two of the alleged conspirators had been acquitted by a Magistrates’ Court which found insufficient evidence linking them to the illegal shipment. The other three had been convicted and all filed an appeal.
When delivering judgment in respect of Mr Borg and Mr Cauchi, the court of criminal appeal, presided over by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, observed that such a case would have called for a magisterial inquiry to ensure that experts would be tasked to preserve the evidence.
In this case, no inquiry had been called and no expert had been nominated to actually determine the contents of the illegal shipment, the Court pointed out, adding that the prosecution, although exhibiting the master cases in court, had only presented photos of the boxes wherein the alleged contraband cigarettes had been stacked.
In spite of several witnesses summoned by the prosecution, no photos of the actual cigarettes had been exhibited and no expert had been nominated to determine the contents of the boxes, labeled ‘Business Royals’ and ‘Tradition,’ the Court went on.
Had this been determined, it would have been for the co-accused to prove whether the relative duty and taxes had been paid, the Court observed.
Moreover, the testimony of an Indonesian sailor who had worked on board the vessel, allegedly employed in the smuggling operation, was declared inadmissible - not on the basis of a lack of credibility - but because he had been considered by the first court as an accomplice, since he used to work on board and this indicated his participation in the alleged smuggling.
In two judgments numbering 140 and 122 pages respectively, the Court concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, thereby upholding the appeals and acquitting Mr Borg and Mr Cauchi, confirming only that part of the judgment which had ordered the confiscation of the items “which the first court had referred to as cigarettes”.
The case dated back to July 11, 2013 when sea patrols had caught sight of the Blue Dolphin I, a long-liner registered in the name of Michael Borg, captain of the vessel, heading from Gozo to St Paul’s Bay.
Once berthed at Għajn Fekruna, the patrols looked on as the ship’s crew unloaded boxes from the vessel onto a Toyota Dyna van, assisted by two others who were waiting on shore and who sped away as soon as the police stepped in.
The van, driven by Anthony Cremona with Mr Cauchi seated as passenger, was later tracked down in Santa Venera, with its load of boxes covered in black plastic, still stowed away inside.
Inside the boxes were 1,030,800 cigarettes, Business Royals and Tradition brands, valued at €29,870 with an Import Duty of €17,205 and liable to an Excise Duty of €145,487 and €34,661 by way of VAT.
The appeal judgment in respect of Mr Cremona is still to be delivered.
Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla and Inspectors Yvonne Farrugia and Anne Marie Micallef prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri, Veronique Dalli, Dean Hili, Arthur Azzopardi and Alfred Abela appeared for the accused.