“Grech Sant left the envelope on a small table in my office. ‘This is for you’, he said, and left,” former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo told the court yesterday.

Dr Arrigo took the witness stand yesterday morning, explaining happenings on the afternoon of Friday 5 July, the day that Mario Camilleri’s (l-imniehru) appeal judgement was handed down.

Former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo is being charged with bribery, providing information he was duty bound to conceal and trading in influence. The case goes back to 2002, when Camilleri’s court sentence of a drug trafficking case was decreased by four years.

Sitting down, and referring to a pack of notes from time to time, Dr Arrigo explained his surprise when the money was delivered.

“I was flabbergasted, and told him I did not want the money,” but he replied there was nothing wrong in receiving a gift for what I had done.

He said they were waiting for him outside and he could not take the money back, Dr Arrigo added.

Anthony Grech Sant left saying, “I don’t know why I got involved myself with these people”.

“I could have done many things at that point,” Dr Arrigo said. “I could have run after him, thrown the money at him or thrown it out of the window”.

“In my nine years as judge, it never occurred to me that I would do something of the sort.

“Confused, I went to look for Joe Galea (one of NM Arrigo company’s directors) since I used to confide in him but he was not there.

“I took the money home, put it in a drawer but I could not sleep that night and kept thinking what I would do with it.”

He decided to donate it to charity. At that point, he could not speak to the police about the incident due to his initial mistake of providing information on the judgement before it was handed down.

“I had not acted as the Chief Justice should have,” Dr Arrigo told the court. “Friendship had led me to divulge information,” he added.

However, if he had the opportunity of deciding the Camilleri case again, he would do the exact same thing and hand down a 12-year jail term.

“I have nothing on my conscience,” he stated.

He never wanted to accept money and never had the intention of keeping it or spending it but intended to donate it, he said.

“I thought it would be a good deed to donate it to charity after committing my initial mistakes,” he added.

Explanation to Joe Galea

Dr Arrigo said he did not count the money but took two LM20 notes and paid for some items at the pharmacy, to make sure it was not false. Prior to running errands, he went to NM Arrigo offices but before Mr Galea opened the door, Is-Sei, who was passing by, stopped to ask if he had received the money and told him he would get the rest within two months. Once again, Dr Arrigo told him to donate the money to charity or for drug rehabilitation.

At that point, Is-Sei mentioned the former Judge Patrick Vella saying that he had complained that the full amount was not given there and then.

“This was the first occasion that Patrick Vella was mentioned to me,” Dr Arrigo said.

He told the court that since he was going to London, he spoke to Fr Saviour Grech, a Gozitan priest residing in the UK.

He explained to Mr Galea the whole matter. Initially Is-Sei had offered him money and Dr Arrigo refused it, then Grech Sant went to the office and left it there. Speaking to Is-Sei harshly, he told him that if Camilleri merited a lighter sentence, it would be considered.

This happened before the judgement was handed down but after the three judges had approved it. On a particular occasion, he also told Grech Sant that the judgement was final, it was to be handed down the next day, Friday 5 July and a 12-year jail term was to be applied.

“No money was mentioned to me before the judgement was handed down,” Dr Arrigo said.

Embarrassed, he told Mr Galea that he received LM1,500.

“If it was not Grech Sant, I would not have kept it,” he told Mr Galea.

Dr Arrigo explained to his colleague-friend that he had executed his duty and did not know why they had brought him the money.

He also noted that at that point in time, it did not occur to him he would be investigated by the police and so never told Mr Grech to act as his alibi.

It did not make sense at the time, he said.

Meeting Fr Saviour Grech

Dr Arrigo tried to contact the Gozitan priest in London, before he left Malta, however he could not get through. He decided to call at his house but the caretaker said he was in Gozo.

Fr Saviour then returned the calls and they agreed to meet in Gozo some days later.

At this point, he had no idea Grech Sant and Is-Sei were being investigated in connection with the case. He got the news of their arrest while on the way to Gozo.

Dr Arrigo spoke to the priest at length and after confessing, he told him informally that he had received a sum of money from a friend after he participated in an appeal judgement.

This was not part of the confession since he never intended to receive the money. They decided to donate the money to the Catholic Church in the UK since it needed more funds than that in Malta.

Some time later, Fr Saviour wrote to him and suggested to make the donation to his missionary friend in Brazil.

By the time he received the letter, investigations had started and Dr Arrigo was on bail. However, he recalled he was so afraid to leave his house that he never went to church so he did not go to the bank and deposit the money for Brazil.

He counted the Lm5,000 he got and gave it to the Zebbug Archpriest, Fr Daniel Cardona. He instructed him to deliver it to the Police Commissioner and say it was handed over under seal of confession.

Inconsistencies between police statement and court testimony

With reference to the police statement, Dr Arrigo said that a number of things he said were factual while some others were not.

He said that while on the way to the police depot, he was listening to the Prime Minister’s press conference announcing the bribery case.

He told the police he never accepted the money and insisted he was saying the truth, while trying to divert their attention, after admitting he had given information.

Meanwhile, he asked the Police Commissioner to release him so he could explain things to his family and would later release an additional statement.

On taking the witness stand to confront Dr Arrigo, the Commissioner confirmed he did not let him go in those circumstances. He could not accept conditions even tough he understood that Dr Arrigo was even ready to give him the money if he let him speak to the family.

The trial will continue this morning before Judge Giannino Caruana Demajo. Defense counsel, led by lawyer Joseph Giglio, will make the final submissions.

Prosecution is being led by the head of the prosecution unit within the Attorney General’s office, Anthony Barbara and Dr Lara Lanfranco. Lawyers Joseph Giglio and Robert Abela are representing the accused.