Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1541426
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 NOVEMBER 2025 NEWS Jury clears man of drug trafficking but is jailed for simple cannabis possession THE Criminal Court on Tues- day sentenced Ghanaian national Omar Bah to 14 months in pris- on after a jury cleared him of drug trafficking charges but found him guilty of simple possession of cannabis. Bah, who was indicted in 2018, had been accused of conspiring to traffic cannabis and of aggra- vated possession of the drug in December 2014. The Attorney General had sought a life sentence and a fine ranging from €2,330 to €116,500, together with the forfeiture of property. Bah pleaded not guilty. The case stemmed from a con- trolled delivery carried out by police after the arrest of Sampson Twene, a Ghanaian national who had arrived in Malta from Sicily on 12 December 2014. Twene, who was found carrying just over 801g of cannabis grass, cooperated with investigators and informed them that he had been instructed to pass the pack- age to a third party in Malta in exchange for €500. He later accompanied the police in a controlled delivery in Sliema. On 13 December, Twene met Bah near Fortizza in Sliema. Bah was arrested after handing over part of the agreed payment. He later told police that he intend- ed to pay the remaining amount after selling some of the drugs himself. The substance was con- firmed to be cannabis plant with a purity of around seven per cent and a street value of €25,027. The bill of indictment, filed in June 2018, accused Bah of con- spiracy and aggravated posses- sion. Twene had already been convicted in 2016 of conspiracy, importation and aggravated pos- session in separate proceedings. A third alleged conspirator, a Gambian known as John and re- siding in Italy, remains outside Malta. Bah raised preliminary pleas in 2018, which were decided in 2022. An appeal filed by the At- torney General led to a judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeal in October 2023. The case pro- ceeded to trial before a jury in November 2025. On Friday, the nine jurors re- turned not-guilty verdicts on the two principal charges by a ma- jority of six to three. They unan- imously found Bah guilty of sim- ple possession. In sentencing Bah, the court said it had considered his clean conviction sheet, the unanimous verdict on the lesser charge, the nature of the offence and the fact that the drugs had been brought into Malta from abroad. The judge also noted Bah's claim that he had sought only between 150g and 200g of the cannabis for his own use. Amendments to Maltese law, which now decrim- inalise possession of up to seven grams for personal use and sub- ject possession of up to 28 grams to administrative proceedings, were also taken into account. Bah was sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment, fined €2,000, and ordered to pay €2,502.10 in court-appointed ex- pert fees within 15 days. The court also ordered the de- struction of the drugs and related items, unless the Attorney Gen- eral notifies the Registrar within 15 days that they are needed as evidence in proceedings against others. Lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace appeared for Bah. Lawyers Maria Francesca Fenech and Daniel Tabone pros- ecuted on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General. Mr Justice Neville Camilleri presided over the case. Cannabis flower (File photo) ĦALEY XUEREB hxuereb@mediatoday.com.mt Court orders dissolution of Ghajn Tuffieha emphyteusis after finding decades-long breach THE Civil Court, First Hall, has ordered the dissolution of a 1960 emphyteutical concession over land in Għajn Tuffieħa, ruling NMF Limited breached an ex- press condition requiring the operation of the adjacent Riviera Hotel. The judgment, delivered on Monday, authorises the Lands Authority to resume possession of the emphyteutical site and de- clares all objections raised by the company unfounded. The case concerned a perpetual emphyteusis granted in 1960 for the extension of the Riviera Hotel onto government land in Għajn Tuffieħa. The Lands Authority filed pro- ceedings in 2008 seeking disso- lution of the concession after the hotel had remained closed for decades, triggering a resolutive clause in the original deed. The court noted the hotel had been shut by 1988 and that the condition requiring it to remain open operated as a praedial ser- vitude benefitting the emphyteu- tical land. That condition was not extin- guished when NMF redeemed the ground rent in 2008. The court found that the long- term closure, and the failure of successive owners to keep the hotel operational, constituted a breach attributable to the emphy- teusis. In its judgment, the court reject- ed all preliminary pleas raised by NMF Limited. Arguments based on prescription were dismissed after the court held that the thir- ty-year period applied and had not elapsed by 2008. The court also ruled that accept- ance of ground rent and recogni- tion of NMF as emphyteuta did not amount to a waiver of rights, as these acts were compatible with the Authority's continued ability to seek dissolution. The court further held that re- demption of the ground rent con- solidated ownership but did not extinguish contractual obligations containing an element of proper- ty. It characterised the obligation to keep the hotel operating as a servitude tied to the use and desti- ny of the land, surviving redemp- tion. On the merits, the court con- cluded that Condition Five of the 1960 deed expressly allowed the government to resume posses- sion if the hotel remained closed for one year or for broken periods amounting to thirty months in four years. That condition had been trig- gered long before proceedings were filed. The court found no justification for the prolonged closure, noting that planning difficulties related only to the proposed extension, not to the operation of the exist- ing hotel. Given the duration of the breach, the court declined to grant time for purgation and limited the scope of devolution to the red- hatched area on the original plan. The company's rights to com- pensation for improvements, as stipulated in the 1960 deed, were left unaffected. The court authorised the Lands Authority to resume possession of the emphyteutical site, ordered NMF Limited to evacuate the land, and appointed Notary Keith Francis German to publish the deed of dissolution and devolu- tion on 22 December 2025. NMF was also ordered to pay the costs of the case.