Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1431464
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 NOVEMBER 2021 NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS THE former head of the Mal- ta Security Service (MSS) and a former minister have given evidence in a constitutional case filed by Charles Muscat, known as il-Pips, on the use of phone taps as evidence against him. Muscat was arrested in 2001 in connection with the importation of a consider- able amount of cocaine and cannabis, after a surveillance operation run in tandem by MSS and the police. Muscat is contesting the validity of the phone taps, arguing that legal safeguards imposed by the EU were "completely ignored" and that the law as it stood, per- mitted this type of monitor- ing with the consent of the minister for home affairs and without any judicial scrutiny. Former Nationalist minis- ter for home affairs Tonio Borg, testified before the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional juris- diction on Thursday. "They [MSS] would come to me and ask me to issue a warrant. I would check it for conformity with the law and then sign it, together with the Prime Minister," Borg told Mr Justice Toni Abela yesterday. "I would be asked only by MSS. The police wouldn't come to me, they would go to MSS who would then come to me... The decision process also involved a com- mittee made up of the Prime Minister, Leader of the Op- position, the Head of MSS and others," he said when asked by Muscat's lawyer, Franco Debono, what the process entailed. "The head of MSS would send someone to me and I would sign and keep a copy in my safe," Borg said, add- ing that this was always done in writing. "I would check whether they tried to obtain the information through other means before resorting to phone taps." Debono asked Borg what the application would con- tain. "It would contain the name, address, reasons for the request and so on. There were times I refused," Borg said. Queried as to whether applications were refused, Borg replied that "when I saw there wasn't a good enough reason, I would re- fuse." Borg would not give rea- sons for accepting the war- rant, but said there was a form of judicial review by the Commissioner of Police who would come and review Former minister, MSS chief quizzed over phone taps' legality Lawyer for accused drug trafficker Charles Muscat 'il-Pips' attacks process behind phone tap in constitutional case on legality of Security Service intercepts all the warrants, after they were issued. "But before it is issued, it is only the minister who decides." Borg said he didn't remem- ber whether he would al- ways give reasons in writing for upholding or rejecting the request, explaining that it "depended on the situa- tion as he perceived it at the time." Borg said the request form was placed with the warrant in the minister's safe, but added that he wasn't com- pletely sure of this point, as a lot of time had passed. Retired judge Frank Camilleri, who was appoint- ed Commissioner for the Security Service, would deal with complaints and investi- gate them, Borg added. Presiding judge Toni Abela asked what law the Security Services Act was based on. Principally English law, re- plied Borg. "What we took from English law was that the warrant was issued ex post facto with the right to review by a retired judge." Herbert Agius, the retired former head of MSS, was al- so summoned to testify. Agi- us told the court that he had been Head of MSS in 2001, and that it was the MSS that would request a warrant from the minister. "We would have gathered sufficient information to suspect illegal activity, then we would go to the minis- ter and get his approval for tapping. The process would be that we would compile a written report of our sus- picions, would inform the minister and then send the report to the minister. If he saw sufficient reasons, he would uphold the request." Answering Debono, Agius said that the minister had never refused such a request during his time in the posi- tion. Debono asked the former Security Service chief how long the process would take. This differed from case to case, Agius explained. "Of- tentimes it would be at night and they would have to go find where he [the minister] was and then call me." Debono asked that he be given another court date to definitively close his ev- idence in the next sitting. The court made it clear that the next sitting would be the last one for the plaintiff's ev- idence. The case will contin- ue in January next year. magius@mediatoday.com.mt Charles 'Pips' Muscat Charles Muscat, known as il- Pips, had been, along with 18 others, accused with conspiracy to traffic drugs based on phone calls intercepted by the Maltese Security Service. Muscat gained notoriety during the 1990s, eventually being sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment in 1999 for a co- caine-fuelled double homicide. He was subsequently granted early release in 2011 for good behaviour. The case in question, however, dates back to December 2001, when drug squad police uncov- ered an operation to import a considerable amount of cocaine and cannabis from the Nether- lands. The police investigation was helped by the MSS, which had been tapping telephone calls connected to the alleged drug importation plan. During the course of the inves- tigation, it emerged that Muscat, who at the time was an inmate at Corradino prison, had been talking with certain people over the supply of large quantities of drugs. Muscat was subsequently arraigned in court on charges relating to conspiracy, importa- tion, trafficking and possession of drugs. "They [MSS] would come to me and ask me to issue a warrant. I would check it for conformity with the law and then sign it, together with the Prime Minister" Former home affairs minister Tonio Borg