Edmond Debono, Il-Mundu, 35 of Rabat, was acquitted yesterday by Magistrate Edwina Grima of trafficking cannabis resin on 26 June, 2007, of having the resin in his possession, and that it was found on him in circumstances which showed it was not for his exclusive use.

The magistrate did not believe the testimony of two men who were in the company of the accused because they were not credible and it could be that they plotted to blame Debono, when it was likely that it was one of these witnesses who had sold the drug. It was the line taken also by Debono’s defence team.

Debono had always denied involvement in drug trafficking and continued denied involvement both in the statement and after he was arraigned in court. The only proof the police had came from two people who said they saw Debono passing “a soap” to someone. Debono maintained that these two had lied about him.

On 26 June, 2007 the police received anonymous information that there was drug trafficking in the Lija environs. Anti-drug squad members went on site, with a constable getting there first and seeing two suspicious vehicles, a Honda Civic and a Mitsubishi Pajero, both white.

He could not follow both, being alone, so he decided to stop one of them, Nicholas Gauci, who was in the Honda. The constable found about 250 grammes of cannabis resin on him, and drug-related objects at his house.

Debono was in the Pajero, with a friend, Paul Bugeja, both of whom were arrested by the police. Nothing illegal was found in the car and at Debono’s home, except for an item with minor traces of cannabis. Debono was carrying a Motorola phone, and Nicholas Gauci a Nokia, both of which were seized.

Debono replied to some questions put to him, but not to some others. In a statement to the police he said that on the day he was arrested he had gone to buy a fishing rod from Mr Fish at Iklin, and before that had gone to collect tickets to a party. He was accompanied by Paul Bugeja. Along the way, another friend, Nicholas Gauci, telephoned him. Asked if Gauci was interested in rod fishing, Debono said he sometimes went with them fishing.

Debono denied his contact with Nicholas Gauci had to do with drugs and did not reply as to whether he abused drugs. Pawlu Bugeja admitted in testimony that on the day he was with Debono and they had collected party tickets, later going to buy a fishing rod from Mr Fish in Birkirkara.

As to his contact with Nicholas Gauci at Lija, Bugeja said Debono had met a person who had a Honda. He knew this man by sight, he was tall and shaved his hair. They went into a street near the Lija tower when a Honda arrived and Debono passed a “soap” to Gauci.

Nicholas Gauci testified after Bugeja. He said he smoked about 14 joints each day and had been doing so for three months before he was arrested. He had bought the resin the police found in his car from soneone called Iz-Ziza from Balzan, for Lm400. He had agreed with him the previous day on the mobile, and they were to meet in a side street in Valley Road.

Gauci testified that Iz-Ziza arrived in his black and white Pajero, with a friend. The man stopped near his car and passed the resin to him. He did not know the man’s number, it was always Iz-Ziza who called him. He denied that he trafficked drugs, he had bought the block for his own use.

He knew Ziza because once he had seen him doing someething for someone in Attard. When he was shown a photograph of Debono and asked if it was he who passed the drug to him, Nicholas Gauci said he wanted to consult his lawyer. He said later that he had invented the person called Iz-Ziza, and it was the man shown in the photo, Debono, Il-Mundu, who gave him the drug.

He said that whenever he mentioned Iz-Ziza, he was referring to Debono. Asked why he had changed his version, he said he had not yet paid anything for the drug he had bought. They had met at Lija, not at Balzan.

Gauci was given a one year sentence in the case, and fined €1,500.

He testified that he had come to know him when they met at a barbecue and asked him if he had drugs. Asked how could a person who hardly knew him had given him drugs and told him to pay later, he said he had made friends with him that day.

Gauci said he knew Pawlu Bugeja slightly. He knew him as a Rabat man, as he was, but not much more than that. Asked if he had agreed with Bugeja to lay the blame on Debono, he replied that Bugeja had told him he had already told the police everything. Evidence showed that the cannabis resin weighed 244 grammes, and had 11 per cent purity.

Debono worked at Malta International Airport. Telephone conversations showed that Pawlu Bugeja wanted to get his back on Debono who had not given him tickets to some party that was to be held. Bugeja was also a friend of Gauci, and even had his photograph in his mobile.

Debono testified he was no longer on drugs, he had a job and was clean. The court said the only proof against Debono came from Nicholas Gauci and Pawlu Bugeja. No drug was ever found on Debono, except for some traces which were neither exhibited, nor examined.

The only drug that was seized was the resin found on Nicholas Gauci, no money was ever found on Debono. Debono’s mobile had never been examined, only Gauci’s was. The court wondered how credible Gauci’s and Bugeja’s testimony was, and whether their testimony was enough to find Debono guilty.

The court was not considering only Debono’s testimony, but Gauci’s as well, and the latter had painted a different story and had not been consistent. Nor was Bugeja’s testimony credible, he had not explained where the cannabis resin was which Debono had passed to Gauci, nor had he indicated where in the car the drug was which Debono allegedly passed to Gauci.

Court expert Martin Bajada said in a report that apparently it was Gauci who was to pass the drug to Debono, not the other way round.

Inspector Pierre Grech prosecuted, while lawyers Michael Sciriha and Lucio Sciriha appeared for Debono.