Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers’ acquittal for attempting to bribe a Times of Malta journalist has been confirmed on appeal.
Judgment was delivered on Thursday confirming the judgment delivered last June by a Magistrates’ Court which threw out the prosecution’s case over a technical defect.
Criminal charges against Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca had stemmed from a meeting between the two lawyers and Times of Malta former journalist Ivan Martin at their Valletta office.
Martin later said that at the end of that 20-minute meeting in November 2020, Caruana Curran handed over some €500 notes.
The lawyer admitted that “remuneration was offered” and that he only offered the money because he had never dealt with a journalist before.
When delivering judgment last June, the court, presided over by magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, observed that although the charges referred to attempted active bribery, the Attorney General had indicated another legal article in its note of referral.
Although the wording of the summons clearly fell within the framework of article 120(2) of the Criminal Code, when formally setting out the charges upon which the court was to base its decision, the AG had indicated another provision of law that related to passive bribery.
“The journalist firmly declined that money. Therefore the offence attributed by the prosecution was attempted active bribery in the private sector,” Magistrate Galea Sciberras had observed.
Although the original summons was worded in such manner as to “embrace” those allegations, the AG had “chosen” to indicate other articles upon which the court was to base its judgment.
Since the relevant article was not indicated by the AG, the court could not apply it and therefore, on the strength of jurisprudence on this issue, the court proceeded to clear the lawyers.
That acquittal was confirmed today by the Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Aaron Bugeja.
Lawyers Giannella de Marco and Stephen Tonna Lowell were defence counsel.
More details to follow.