Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and Mr Justice Patrick Vella were arraigned in court yesterday afternoon and charged with accepting bribes in a marathon four-hour arraignment characterised by hot-tempered legal wrangling over procedural issues including the manner of justification of the legality of arrest and bail.

Chief Justice Arrigo, 52, of Siggiewi and Mr Justice Vella, 58, of San Pawl tat-Targa, appeared before Magistrate Antonio Mizzi and filed not guilty pleas to two counts of bribery and one of revealing official secrets in relation to a sentence handed down by the Court of Criminal Appeal against Mario Camilleri on July 5.

The charges were aggravated by the fact that they were public officers duty bound to prevent crime.

Chief Justice Arrigo arrived in court in a police car from police headquarters at about 5 p.m., followed a few minutes later by Mr Justice Vella, who was brought to court from St Philip's Hospital where he had been admitted after complaining of chest pains. They both entered from an entrance at the rear.

The public and media were allowed into the court at about 5.30 p.m. The atmosphere in the court room was tense from the very start, with Mr Justice Vella objecting to the presence of a lawyer he had recently had occasion to reprimand severely.

For about 15 minutes before the hearing began, the judges sat side by side talking to each other while prosecution and defence lawyers were summoned to the magistrate's chambers.

The Chief Justice's family sat in the row immediately behind the two defendants, while Mr Justice Vella's family sat in the row behind holding each other closely and breaking down on occasion.

The media and police officers lined the walls of the small and stifling court hall, where the only source of air was a single fan and the people in the packed room had to mop their brow several times while lawyers made lengthy procedural submissions.

The sitting started with Police Commissioner John Rizzo reading out the three charges against the two judges, the more serious of which carries a maximum punishment of three years in jail.

The sitting then moved to discuss the justification of the arrest. The defence immediately declared it was not contesting the legality of the arrest.

But Deputy Attorney General Silvio Camilleri insisted that the matter was a formality which had to be automatically observed and insisted that the police be given a chance to explain what had led to the arrest of the judges.

Mr Rizzo then took the witness stand and explained how the police had been informed of serious allegations of corruption in two judgments handed down by the Court of Criminal Appeal on July 5. The cases were that of Camilleri and George Spiteri, both charged with drug trafficking. Camilleri's sentence was reduced by four years while Spiteri was acquitted.

In investigating the information, the police questioned a number of people including the defendants. Mr Justice Vella was arrested on Thursday and was cautioned. He chose to reply to questions put to him and admitted he was approached in connection with Camilleri's appeal.

The judge said he was put under pressure but he still felt there was some merit in the appeal.

On July 5, the day of judgment, he was contacted by a person (who remained unidentified in court) and agreed to collect Lm10,000. He went to a building in Valletta to collect the money but was given only Lm5,000.

Mr Justice Vella told police he had spent some of the money and had deposited Lm4,200 at an HSBC branch. He chose to cooperate with police and wished to return the money because he did not want to have anything to do with drug money. The commissioner said the judge eventually handed over the Lm5,000 to the police.

At this point, the defence interjected, arguing that Mr Rizzo had been asked only to give evidence to justify the arrest, which in any case was not being contested as illegal.

When Mr Rizzo continued after some legal wrangling, he went on to say that Mr Justice Vella was accompanied by Superintendent Pierre Calleja to a bank to make the withdrawal. The judge also chose to give the police a bank statement.

At this point the defence intervened again and called on the magistrate to order the witness to be succinct.

But Dr Camilleri argued that the police had a right to explain what led them to arraign under arrest.

Magistrate Mizzi then directed the witness to testify about the investigations which led to the chief justice's arrest.

Mr Rizzo said the chief justice was asked to go and see him at his office at police headquarters on Thursday at 6 p.m., where he was questioned over allegations of bribery in the cases of Camilleri and Spiteri.

He was detained until 5.15 p.m. the following day and was questioned at length. The chief justice explained that he had been approached by two people, one of whom was a very good friend of his.

The first approach was made when he was still a judge (he was appointed chief justice in January) although he was already sitting on the Court of Criminal Appeal. He was offered a sum of money and the proposal was repeated insistently over a period of time.

The chief justice admitted he had given the men the impression that he would help them in the case of Camilleri although he consistently and categorically denied any influence in the case of Spiteri.

He admitted he could have been somewhat indiscreet with the men, out of his long-standing friendship with one of them, and had informed them of the progress of the sentencing process which went through three stages, a confirmation of the jail term handed down by the Criminal Court, a reduction by three years and eventually a reduction by an additional year.

Chief Justice Arrigo told police he was offered a gift after Camilleri's sentence was handed down and he refused it without even knowing what it was.

The chief justice told police that a certain Joe Galea, who worked for one of his companies, could provide him with an alibi because he was with Mr Galea in his office at the time and Chief Justice Arrigo was released while police made their verifications.

But Mr Rizzo said that, after questioning Mr Galea, it transpired that the alibi was false because Mr Galea was in Comino on July 5. "What the Chief Justice said was mistaken, or incorrect."

Mr Galea admitted he was asked to give a different version of events by the chief justice himself, who was concerned about the police investigation into the allegations.

The employee said he had been told what to say by the chief justice and he felt he had to do as he asked.

Mr Rizzo said Mr Galea broke down almost constantly during interrogation, and told police he was ashamed of having to give evidence against Chief Justice Arrigo, his friend and employer.

He told police that a first person had offered a gift and the chief justice had refused it but a second person had made an offer which the chief justice had accepted. (The men were not named.)

Mr Galea told police that the chief justice had told him that the gift was Lm1,500 cash and he never found out whether the chief justice had returned it. The chief justice also told him he became concerned when he saw the cash - in Lm20 notes - because he suspected the notes were numbered and started to spend it on incidental items, at a pharmacy and on drinks during his usual Saturday night socialising with friends.

When the police commissioner stepped down from the witness stand, Magistrate Mizzi ruled that the arrest had been justified.

Defence lawyers then requested bail on behalf of their clients but the prosecution objected.

The police were the first to outline their objections to bail with the police commissioner saying the police feared evidence could be tampered with.

He said the police's main witness, Mr Galea, had already been approached or influenced in some manner to give a fictitious story.

Mr Rizzo also argued that his evidence had now given the defendants an idea of the case against them.

Dr Toni Abela then asked the commissioner whether he could say if the two men, who remained unnamed during the proceedings, were going to be arraigned in court.

He argued that it was one thing if the judges were to remain under arrest because the other two men were at large.

But the commissioner said the investigation had not yet been concluded and would not reveal plans of possible additional arraignments.

Dr Camilleri said the case was highly serious, not to be alarmist and say extremely serious, and the gravity of the case alone was enough reason for bail to be denied.

He added however that there was a clear danger of possible tampering with evidence.

Then followed a good 90 minutes of debate on whether the judges should be granted bail, with the exchanges between the lawyers at times even hotter than the temperature inside the court room.

Mr Justice Vella also made several remarks during submissions by Dr Camilleri, who, at one stage, made the point that Mr Justice Vella was not in the room as a judge - but as a defendant.

Magistrate Mizzi eventually postponed the sitting and returned half an hour later with a ruling granting the judges bail on condition they do not leave their houses except for medical reasons.

He bound them with a Lm5,000 deposit and a Lm10,000 personal guarantee each.

In handing down the ruling, Magistrate Mizzi said he did not feel he should discriminate against the defendants because, although the case was very particular, the fact remained that the most serious charge carried a maximum punishment of three years in jail.

He also ruled that the fact that the defendants were judges was not an aggravating circumstance for bail because the law itself made a distinction between public offices.

The case continues.

Deputy Attorney General Silvio Camilleri, Police Commissioner John Rizzo, Deputy Commissioner Joseph Cachia, Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar and Superintendent Pierre Calleja are prosecuting.

Dr Joseph Giglio represented Chief Justice Arrigo while Dr Toni Abela, Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr George Cutajar represented Mr Justice Vella, who said his team also included Dr Emmanuel Mallia who was temporarily away from the island.