A driving examiner at the Malta Transport Authority was cleared of accepting bribes after a magistrate ruled that the evidence of the sole credible witness was not sufficiently corroborated.

Magistrate Anthony Vella cleared Paul Grech, 38, of accepting bribes on and before May 2006.

The magistrate noted that the prosecution's witnesses included another two former ADT examiners, Jason Buttigieg and Roderick Abela, who had been convicted of accepting bribes, and the owner of Swallow Garage, Saviour Abela.

The magistrate noted that Saviour Abela had said that one of his students had paid Mr Grech Lm100 to ensure he passes the driving exam. However, the student said he had passed on the money to Mr Abela. Mr Buttigieg and Mr Abela said that the accused, who was their colleague at the time, was involved in bribery between November 2004 and January 2005 but Mr Grech produced evidence showing he was in Australia at that time. On evaluating the evidence, the magistrate noted that the only credible witness was the student, Paul Delicata. He said he had given the money to Saviour Abela and could only presume that he was to pass the money on to the examiner. However, since Mr Delicata's evidence had not been corroborated, and one could not find guilt on a presumption, the court felt it should clear Mr Grech of the charges.

Police Inspector Angelo Gafà prosecuted.