Electronic tagging is more “serious, effective and efficient” than signing a bail book twice daily, a court declared on Monday morning, confirming its decision to grant Jordan Azzopardi bail.

The court issued its decree after the attorney general sought to have Azzopardi rearrested, just days after he was granted bail. 

Azzopardi was first arrested in March 2019 along with his girlfriend, in a police raid that followed months of surveillance in an anti-drugs operation. 

The 30-year-old was subsequently charged over a series of offences including drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy, money laundering, circulation of counterfeit cash, possession of an unlicensed weapon, threatening and injuring a third party and breaching previous bail conditions.

His girlfriend was also arraigned and charged with criminal conspiracy, circulation of fake cash and defrauding three shops.

Both are pleading not guilty. His girlfriend, a mother of five whose name was banned from publication, was granted bail a few months after the arraignment. Azzopardi only obtained bail a few weeks ago. 

Azzopardi was initially asked to sign the bail book daily, observe a curfew and other conditions including a €150,000 personal guarantee. A third party guarantor was to deposit a €50,000 surety which would also be forfeited if bail conditions were to be breached.

Prosecutor seeks rearrest

Days later, the prosecutor filed an application before Judge Bugeja, arguing that court orders had been breached because the third party had deposited the €50,000 bail bond through company funds rather than his own personal account.

The Attorney General therefore called for Azzopardi to be rearrested or to have bail conditions tightened by requiring him to sign the bail book twice a day.

Azzopardi’s lawyers, Franco Debono and Joe Giglio, insisted Azzopardi had breached no bail condition.

They said the third-party guarantor, who was abroad at the time, had issued instructions as a company director for the necessary bail money to be deposited by the company. The receipt was made out to his name. 

Defence lawyers also argued that there was no right of appeal from the decree delivered by the Criminal Court. 

Not a valid reason to revoke bail

The judge said that in this case, although the third party was a company director, he should not have used company funds as though his own.

However, that was not a good enough reason to revoke bail, the court said. It ordered the guarantor to deposit the €50,000 in his name instead of the sum deposited by the company, while rejecting the prosecution’s pleas.

The judge said that signing the bail book twice a day would not be enough to stop an "ill-intentioned person" from slipping out of the country between signatures. 

He noted that electronic tagging - which is currently being assessed by lawmakers - could help with monitoring people who are out on bail. 

A similar suggestion had been made by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera three years ago when deciding a bail request made by lawyers assisting an alleged rapist.

On that occasion, Judge Scerri Herrera had noted that in 2012 lawyer and then-MP Franco Debono had suggested introducing electronic tagging of suspects to allow effective surveillance.

Electronic tagging has long been mooted in judicial and penal circles as a means to alleviate the burden on the prison facility.

In May, the government launched a White Paper on the subject, in which it proposes allowing electronic monitoring of people convicted of minor crimes, instead of imprisonment.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Joe Giglio are defence counsel.