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18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2019 13 December, 2009 Malta told penalties for judges' bribery "too low" PENALTIES against officials found guilty of trading in influence – one of the charges brought against Chief Justice Noel Arrigo – must be increased, a report by the Council of Europe's monitoring body on corruption has warned Malta. The report recommends that penalties for trading in influence should be increased "to render the law effective, proportionate and dissuasive." The maximum penalty for trading in influ- ence under Maltese law is not more than 18 months' imprisonment. This sanction was con- sidered low in comparison with the maximum sanctions provided for all the other corruption offences in Malta. According to Maltese law, anyone found guilty of promising or offering "any undue advantage to any other person" by exerting "improper influence over the decision-making process" is liable to the punishment of im- prisonment for a term from three to eighteen months. The report was issued in October before for- mer Chief Justice Noel Arrigo was sentenced to two years and nine months of imprisonment on charges of bribery and trading in influence. The former judge was found guilty of having accepted €11,650 from businessman and child- hood friend Anthony Grech Sant to reduce the sentence of convicted drug trafficker Mario 'l-Imniehru' Camilleri from 16 to 12 years on appeal. Another judge and member of the three-man Court of Criminal Appeal, Patrick Vella, was also found guilty of bribery in 2007 and served two years in prison. The report also calls on the government to revise Article 117 of the Criminal Code, which foresees a maximum imprisonment of five years for judges bribed to release or discharge someone accused of a crime. Neither Arrigo nor Vella were charged on this count. The COE's Group of States against Corrup- tion (GRECO) said its view was that "these rules incorrectly convey the message that these specific categories of bribery offences are less serious than other forms of bribery of public officials." Indeed, the report considered the "limited sanctions against judges" as provided for in Article 117 as "too lenient in comparison with other bribery offences of public officials of the Criminal Code." The report notes that Malta was shaken by the judges' corruption scandal in 2002, when the then Chief Justice and another judge had accepted bribes for lowering a prison sentence. ... MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week How much will Joseph Muscat take down with him? Editorial HOW much will Muscat take down with him? There is chaos under heaven. The situation? Abnormal, even dangerous. Joseph Muscat's government is not the first in Maltese history to have been abortively cut short; but it is the first time that a government has self-combusted for judicial reasons rather than political ones. Now in a state of suspended animation until the election of a new leader on January 12, the Maltese government remains in power while Muscat himself has not yet vacated his position to pave way to the transition of power. Inside Labour, the removal of Muscat's bind- ing gel is already proving problematic: heir ap- parent Chris Fearne, the current deputy prime minister, would have forged a 'diabolical pact' with the young, imperious roads ministers Ian Borg – according to another pretender, Labour MP Robert Abela, the son of Muscat's one-time leadership rival whom he co-opted as his con- sultant on the Cabinet. Outside the doors of Castille, the protest of justified anger grows and grows. And the question on everybody's lips is: why has Keith Schembri not being questioned by police? Why has the police not launched a serious inves- tigation into obstruction of justice, now that Schembri has been alleged in court of having passed on information to Yorgen Fenech from the Security Service briefings he had and even prior knowledge of the raid on the Marsa den where the Daphne Caruana Galizia executioners held court? That is why today MaltaToday supports the national protest in Valletta. Because this news- paper fully endorses the spirit and justified anger of the people against this heinous con- spiracy, against the murderous collusion of big business and political power. Because, as things stand now, Schembri must be investigated in- stantly. We demand a swift and satisfactory solution of the Caruana Galizia case, accompanied by a wider probe on the Panama scandal; as well as on other major scandals such as the sale of pub- lic hospitals to a shell company. But Malta also needs – short of a general elec- tion that can level out the current democratic impasse – a new Labour government's ability to restore, as best it can, the country's lost reputa- tion and credibility. Muscat's determination to linger until January lessens both those probabili- ties: indeed, it raises questions as to whether his intention is really to influence the choice of next party leader; which in turn has implications for his own future. Either way, there is a silver lining: Muscat's peremptory fall from grace has now exposed the intersections between politics, big business and organised crime. But does his demise also spell the end of the ultra-successful political movement that he brought together, from segments of big business, to floating voters aspiring for a better country and campaigners for civil liberties, together with Labour's working-class core? Can the new prime minister – Fearne is al- ready accumulating Cabinet support – make the next two years of Labour government a truly revolutionary reawakening for Constitutional renewal and justice in the anti-corruption fight? Would he be ready to change the modus oper- andi of the fastest-growing economy in Europe, and answer to citizens' righteous demands to stop the sack of their villages by construction developers and property magnates? This will be a major test for any Labour leader, as it has cre- ated the first cracks pitting residents, including floaters and even traditional Labourites, against Labour's new allies in business. The new prime minister will also face the loss of trust among an entire generation of activ- ists and intellectuals, who now view Labour's credentials as a harbinger of equality, minority rights and social justice as being indelibly blot- ted by the Caruana Galizia assassination. It will be hard for Labour to take credit for its achieve- ments unless the new prime minister steers the country into normality with zeal. Regaining the trust of this sector – i.e., those who still cherish the progressive, moderate thrust that character- ised Muscat's early years, but are too repulsed by the current saga to identify with the movement anymore – will surely be the biggest challenge. And there will be the need to enforce major reforms across so many sectors, most especially the police, the new financial crimes agency, and the judiciary, if the new PM makes it their legacy to rebuild the people's trust in their institutions. Let's not hurt each other The former Nationalist candidate and en- trepreneur Ivan Bartolo wrote in The Times of having had 'daggers' thrown at him by ac- quaintances who spotted him chatting with PN leader Adrian Delia during last Sunday's protest. The air is heavy with a desire for 'retribution': for those who gave Muscat the benefit of the doubt, those who support Adrian Delia, those who did not worship at the altar of Daphne Caruana Galizia, no matter how controversial part of her journalism was. The writer Immanuel Mifsud invited us to reflect on the situation of a country that has been pillaged by a toxic division, partisan servil- ity, and a lack of critical self-awareness. Those of us who stop reflecting on the times we are living in, those of us who throw humility out of the window once they have the imprimatur they want, will only further the hurt. "A country where journalists who report on corruption have to live with police protection does not have a functioning criminal justice system." Matthew Caruana Galizia's testimony to the public inquiry into his mother's assassination