Court marshals charged with stealing court files, case had come to light in 2017

Two court marshals have been charged with stealing the acts of a compilation of evidence relating to a drug case.

The marshals, Joseph Bezzina, 61, of Valletta, and Edwin Vassallo, 56, of Kalkara, were arraigned by summons on 19 June. The alleged case took place on 27 April 2017.

The men were charged by Inspector Frank Tabone with having stolen the court files and, in so doing, tampering with evidence. The files were part of the compilation of evidence in the case Police vs Angel Attard, who had been charged with drug trafficking.

Bezzina alone was also charged with stealing money deposited as evidence in a separate court case.

The accused were arraigned before Magistrate Joe Mifsud. The first sitting in the compilation of evidence against the accused is expected to take place on 24 July.

In-Nazzjon ran with an ‘exclusive’ front-page story yesterday, in which it was claimed that a ‘new’ investigation and magisterial inquiry had been launched, despite the fact that the incidents were detailed in a justice ministry press release issued in April 2017.

Back then, the ministry had said that two court employees were being investigated by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech after they had hid the court files. It said their movements had been caught by the court building’s security system. The police and the duty magistrate had been duly informed and the two employees had been suspended.

In-Nazzjon also incorrectly reported that the men were due to be arraigned in the coming days.

Court sources said the facts of the case showed that abuse was being dealt with in a serious manner – the employees had been caught red-handed, an investigation had been launched, and an arraignment followed.

In its ‘exclusive’ report, in-Nazzjon also made reference to the recent discovery that drugs had gone missing from the court’s strongroom. In the first case, revealed by the PN newspaper, 15 blocks of cannabis resin had gone missing, leading to the postponement of a trial by jury. TVM reported on Friday that the drugs had been found inside the strongroom. It said the cannabis had not initially been found because it had been mislabelled.

A few days later, Times of Malta reported that a number of ecstasy pills had also disappeared from the evidence room. Inquiries have been launched into both cases.

In both cases, it is believed that the drugs went missing around 2004 or 2005.

Sources said systems for storing and recording evidence had been strengthened in 2013, making it very difficult for evidence to go missing.

People’s trust dented Delia

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, PN leader Adrian Delia said this was the third time that the media had revealed that something had gone missing from the courts.

He said these incidents dented people’s trust in the judicial system, which was not guaranteeing that the processes were intact. He said the magisterial inquiries would identify administrative shortcomings, but someone needed to shoulder the political responsibility.

He asked why the Justice Minister had remained silent on the issue and why the government had kept the incident “hidden.”

Delia said it was not true that efficiency at the courts had increased. The news that things were going missing only made things worse.

Asked about the 2017 press release, Delia said he would not take back anything he said, for the fact was that people were concerned about the integrity of the justice system.

Asked about the fact that the missing cannabis had been found, Delia said this did not matter – the fact was that the courts could not guarantee that evidence remained intact and untouched.