Dangerous liaisons lead to Judge Pace’s arrest

Beleaguered Judge Raymond Pace dragged himself straight into the heart of a police operation, which for months was on the trail of a known criminal organisation allegedly plotting to import consignments of cocaine.

Pace, 54 of Attard, was remanded in custody last Thursday evening after pleading not guilty to charges of bribery, trading in influence, criminal association and money laundering.

He resigned from the bench Saturday afternoon as he was escorted to meet President George Abela at San Anton Palace. He handed in his resignation letter, hours after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi convened Cabinet and filed a motion of impeachment before Parliament.

Sources said that Pace was in tears as he handed his resignation to the President, in a meeting which lasted a handful of minutes.

He was immediately returned to his holding cell at Mount Carmel Hospital's Forensic Ward, where he is to stay at least until next Tuesday, when Magistrate Neville Camilleri will consider his plea for bail, at the end of the first sitting of the compilation of evidence before the courts.

In resigning, Pace acknowledged that his position was "no longer tenable" irrespective of the final outcome of his case "or any other possible developments."

The story behind Pace's arrest goes back quite a few months, when a small group of investigators were shocked to discover his familiarity with a group of persons who were under investigation for serious crimes.

Surveillance conducted by members of the security services on a Bugibba restaurant, revealed the alleged regular presence of Pace meeting with Sandro Psaila, 40 of Valletta - one of two accused of bribing the former Judge.

Murder connection

Psaila had been sacked from the Armed Forces in 2001 after he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to import three kilogrammes of cocaine from Sicily together with another two soldiers, identified as Raymond Bonello and Saviour Azzopardi.

The alleged mastermind of the plot was none other than Josef Grech, 41 of Balzan, known as 'il-YoYo' who was discovered murdered last Wednesday morning in Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq with a bullet to his head.

Psaila's case is still ongoing before the Magistrates Court, after it had to be reopened in 2006, following a judgment by the Criminal Court of Appeal which ruled their bill of indictment null, because the magistrate who had originally presided over their case had forgotten to sign case documents as required by law.

Then Judge Joseph Galea Debono had ruled that once the magistrate's signature was missing on the six pages representing the examination of the accused, this meant that their examination was null, as were the documents of the compilation of evidence that followed. Consequently, the bill of indictment against the men was also null.

The bill alleged that, in June 2001, the police were informed that Josef Grech was dealing in cocaine and, following extensive investigations, it was established that he was working on importing a large quantity of the drug into Malta with Jason Briffa and the three former AFM soldiers.

Evidence

Evidence which is set to be presented in court tomorrow morning before Magistrate Edwina Grima, against Sandro Psaila and co-accused 51-year-old water transport contractor Raymond Caruana of Zebbug, is understood to also reveal the backroom dealings in which their gang had tried to take a swipe at another Zebbug-based gang, which also was involved in cocaine importation.

Psaila's plan was allegedly to send a message to his rivals that he had a Judge in his pockets and could also oversee convictions.

The surveillance led investigators to discover how Psaila had allegedly used Judge Pace to approach Judge Lawrence Quintano, who was to preside over the trial by jury of 37-year-old Darren Desira from Zebbug, who was charged with importing two kilogrammes of cocaine via a Sea Malta ship.

Desira's case was very similar to Psaila's, and involved a number of people who were also charged with conspiracy to import cocaine.

But rather than standing trial last month, Desira registered a guilty plea and was handed an 18 year-jail term and fined €50,000.

Investigations carried out over the past few days have led Police to establish that Pace had allegedly approached Judge Lawrence Quintano and hinted to him that Desira "deserved to be severely punished."

Mr Justice Quintano is expected in Tuesday's sitting as a prosecution witness.

While it remains unknown whether police investigations were also assisted by a whistleblower, senior investigative sources told MaltaToday that the investigation was so secret that even the proceedings before Mr Justice Quintano were under surveillance while Desira was admitting his charges.

The presiding Judge has meanwhile been cleared of any wrongdoing and is not involved in the alleged conspiracy.

Telephone conversations intercepted between Psaila and Caruana soon after Desira was sentenced by Mr Justice Quintano, allegedly revealed references to the former Judge.

No money

But while the police put all the evidence together, they established that no money had in fact been exchanged between Psaila, Caruana and Ray Pace in return for the alleged 'favour' of attempting to get Desira the highest jail term possible.

MaltaToday is reliably informed that the investigations have led police to base their case on evidence which allegedly places the former Judge in the midst of a criminal organisation and agreeing to do 'favours'.

When presenting his case before Magistrate Edwina Grima during Ray Pace's arraignment, Superintendent Norbert Ciappara who led the investigation, said that this was not a case where the prosecution was putting the Institution to the test, but "it was rather the abuse by the accused which put the Institution to the test."

The fact that police were investigating a plot to finance the importation of cocaine, a;sp earned Ray Pace the charge of money laundering: given that the money involved is considered to be the product of illicit origin.

Top secret

The investigations which led to Ray Pace's arrest and subsequent arraignment caught the nation by surprise, including Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and justice minister Chris Said.

The investigations were so secretive that the warrants issued to have phone conversations tapped, concerned only Psaila.

Minister Chris Said was at a Christmas staff party in Gozo when one of his employees accidentally discovered the news on the internet via his cell phone.

Said says that the news of Ray Pace's arrest was the "worst day throughout the entire Legislature."

He told MaltaToday that the moment was so difficult that it superseded the tensions he had suffered when he had to tender his own resignation as parliamentary secretary in 2010.

"I was shocked at the news, and felt so bad for the institution, because this was a terrible blow," he said.