A Criminal Court yesterday rejected a series of preliminary pleas filed by former chief justice Noel Arrigo and former judge Patrick Vella, who are facing criminal proceedings for accepting bribes, and put off the case for trial.

Dr Arrigo and Dr Vella filed their pleas last year as the date of their trial approached but these pleas were all rejected by the Criminal Court, presided over by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono.

The two former judges are standing charged with accepting thousands of liri to reduce the prison sentence of inmate drug dealer Mario Camilleri from 16 years to 12 years in 2002 and committing a crime they were duty bound to prevent.

In two separate judgements, Mr Justice Galea Debono delved into great detail on all the pleas submitted by the two former judges.

In one of their pleas, Dr Arrigo and Dr Vella called on the court to take cognisance of the ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court which had declared that their right to a fair hearing had been breached when then Prime Minister, now President, Edward Fenech Adami, had addressed a press conference about the case before they were formally charged in court. They said that as a result of this decision, the case should be discontinued.

In his ruling on this plea, Mr Justice Galea Debono said the Constitutional Court itself had ruled that there was no reason why the criminal proceedings against the judges should be halted and rejected their plea.

In another of his pleas, Dr Arrigo argued that one of the charges with which he was being charged – trading in influence – did not result from the bill of indictment issued against him by the Attorney General. But upon evaluating the bill of indictment, Mr Justice Galea Debono ruled that this clearly and repeatedly resulted.

In another plea submitted by Dr Vella, he argued that the list of witnesses exhibited by the Attorney General was not admissible because the AG mistakenly submitted the list under the name “Noel Arrigo” rather than his and Dr Vella objected to its correction.

However, while noting that the mistake often happened because of a “cut and paste routine”, Mr Justice Galea Debono ruled that there was no basis for the objection and rejected the plea.

Mr Justice Galea Debono put off the cases to an indefinite date for trial but the date of this trial depends on whether the former judges decide to appeal the judgement handed down yesterday rejecting their pleas.

Dr Arrigo and Dr Vella will stand trial separately and have chosen to be judged by a judge rather than a jury.

Dr George Abela and Joseph Giglio are appearing for Dr Arrigo while Dr Toni Abela, Dr Michael Sciriha and Dr José Herrera are representing Dr Vella.

Dr Stephen Tonna Lowell, from the Attorney General’s office, represented the AG.