Government ‘still considering’ recommendations for harsher penalties against bribery of public officials and judges
James Debono The government is planning to amend the Criminal Code with the aim of enabling the prosecution of Maltese and foreign arbitrators involved in cases of bribery, as recommended in a report issued by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO).
But the government is still considering recommendations made in the report to stiffen penalties for officials found guilty of trading in influence, and for judges guilty of bribery.
The GRECO report called on the government to amend the criminal code to include the offences of bribery of domestic and foreign arbitrators as well as foreign jurors.
A Justice Ministry spokesperson said the amendments were drafted before the GRECO report was published last year.
“Hopefully, this draft Act will be debated in the House of Representatives soon,” the spokesperson told MaltaToday.
Any person who, by virtue of an arbitration agreement, is called upon to render a legally binding decision, is considered an arbitrator by the Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.
The Council of Europe’s report recommends that penalties for trading in influence – one of the charges brought against former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo – should be increased “to render the law effective, proportionate and dissuasive.”
The ministry is presently consulting with the office of the Attorney General to adopt these two recommendations “and should it be the case, increase in the penalty for trading in influence.”
The maximum penalty for trading in influence under Maltese law is no more than 18 months’ imprisonment. This sanction was considered low when compared to the maximum sanctions provided for all the other corruption offences in Malta, the GRECO report said.
It is yet not clear whether these amendments will be included in the forthcoming amendments to the criminal code or in a “subsequent draft law”.
A similar fate awaits Article 117 of the Criminal Code, which foresees a maximum imprisonment of five years for judges bribed to release or discharge someone accused of a crime.
According to the GRECO report, “these rules incorrectly convey the message that these specific categories of bribery offences are less serious than other forms of bribery of public officials.”
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