There have been 254 formal requests for Presidential pardons since 2004: an average of 85 a year. Of these, 141 were granted and 113 refused. The overwhelming majority (132) of granted presidential pardons concern pardons or reductions in prison sentences for VAT related offences. None of the pardons in the last three years involved general amnesties.
These are among the figures released by the Justice Ministry in reply to questions sent by MaltaToday, after a spate of requests for such information appeared in the press following the Prime Minister’s public defence of Roads Minister Jesmond Mugliett, and his role in the ADT’s “cash for licenses” scandal.
Replying to our questions, Justice Ministry spokesman Joe Azzopardi explained that a number of criteria exist for the application of the Presidential pardon rule, which is governed by the Constitution (articles 85 and 93). “The most important ones are: (a) humanitarian reasons where special reasons militate in favour of a mitigation of punishment;  (b) legal, e.g., an error committed in deciding a case, or the awarding of punishment which is disproportionate to the offence committed. The AG’s advice is  sought in such legal matters.”
The figures appear at a glance to reinforce the notion, popularised by the recent scandal, that Presidential pardons are routinely requested by criminal defence lawyers in the case of a client’s conviction. But while the number may appear large to the uninvolved layman, members of the legal profession are for the most part unimpressed by the revelation.
Most lawyers contacted by MaltaToday ascribe the apparently high number of requests to the somewhat draconian nature of the VAT law, whereby judges are often constrained to mete out prison sentences for crimes such as the failure to correctly fill out a VAT form. Most also agree that in cases were prison is clearly unwarranted, a Presidential pardon may be the only way to redress an injustice.
The Chamber of Advocates’ Dr Andrew Borg Cardona told this newspaper that all things considered, 85 requests a year was a perfectly normal figure… adding that we would even find one or two of his own requests in there somewhere.
“A Presidential pardon is just one of the courses of action available to a lawyer,” he said, adding that the above figure does not include any requests for pardons regarding parking-related fines.
This is because a board was set up in 2004 specifically to handle these requests; as a result, these are no longer directed to the President’s office. Otherwise, Dr Borg Cardona added, the number of official requests would be astronomical.
But if lawyers maintain that there is nothing wrong with the custom in itself, why has the issue of Presidential Pardons recently raised so many questions in the press?

Pardon me, it’s politics
If answers are to be found anywhere, it is likely to be the often extremely contentious nature of individual high profile requests, and the political controversies to which these are inevitably linked.
For instance, at least one of the 254 requests received by the office of the President in the past three years was made in May 2005 by Joseph Fenech, aka Zeppi l-Hafi, for the reduction of a Lm250,000 fine incurred for his part in an alcohol smuggling operation. The same Joseph Fenech was famously granted a Presidential pardon in 1996 for no fewer than three separate crimes: armed robbery, drug trafficking, and his own part in the 1994 attempted murder of Richard Cachia Caruana.
The subsequent acquittal of Ian Farrugia and (later) Meinrad Calleja – both incriminated by Fenech’s testimony – had been seized upon by the Opposition to discredit both the Prime Minister of the time, and by inference the entire Presidential pardon system. The crime remains today technically unsolved, and the Malta Labour Party is still bound by a previous commitment to revoke Fenech’s three pardons if returned to power after the next election.
Earlier still, Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami had acceded to Joe Brincat’s request to pardon former Public Works Minister Lorry Sant, then facing massive corruption charges, as well as prosecution for the ransacking of the law-courts in 1987.
The recent Jesmond Mugliett saga only served to rekindle memories of these controversies. In February, the Roads Minister allegedly intervened to retain two ADT employees who had previously been convicted on corruption charges in the “cash-for licences” affair. Prime Minister Gonzi’s refusal of Mugliett’s resignation offer was justified largely on the grounds that the employees’ lawyer, Nationalist MP Dr Jason Azzopardi, had requested a Presidential pardon for his clients.
Remove politics from the equation, and it appears that Dr Azzopardi’s behaviour in this case was no different from that of virtually any other criminal lawyer you care to name. However, considering that Dr Azzopardi is a PN candidate contesting Jesmond Mugliett’s own district; that one of the convicted employees was Jesmond Mugliett’s canvasser; and that the Opposition had lost time in crying “blue corruption” from the rooftop of the Glass Palace at Mile End, removing politics from the equation was never likely to be an option in the first place.
The figures appear at a glance to reinforce the notion, popularised by the recent scandal, that Presidential pardons are routinely requested by criminal defence lawyers in the case of a client’s conviction. But while the number may appear large to the uninvolved layman, members of the legal profession are for the most part unimpressed by the revelation.
Most lawyers contacted by MaltaToday ascribe the apparently high number of requests to the somewhat draconian nature of the VAT law, whereby judges are often constrained to mete out prison sentences for crimes such as the failure to correctly fill out a VAT form. Most also agree that in cases were prison is clearly unwarranted, a Presidential pardon may be the only way to redress an injustice.
The Chamber of Advocates’ Dr Andrew Borg Cardona told this newspaper that all things considered, 85 requests a year was a perfectly normal figure… adding that we would even find one or two of his own requests in there somewhere.
“A Presidential pardon is just one of the courses of action available to a lawyer,” he said, adding that the above figure does not include any requests for pardons regarding parking-related fines.
This is because a board was set up in 2004 specifically to handle these requests; as a result, these are no longer directed to the President’s office. Otherwise, Dr Borg Cardona added, the number of official requests would be astronomical.
But if lawyers maintain that there is nothing wrong with the custom in itself, why has the issue of Presidential Pardons recently raised so many questions in the press?

Pardon me, it’s politics
If answers are to be found anywhere, it is likely to be the often extremely contentious nature of individual high profile requests, and the political controversies to which these are inevitably linked.
For instance, at least one of the 254 requests received by the office of the President in the past three years was made in May 2005 by Joseph Fenech, aka Zeppi l-Hafi, for the reduction of a Lm250,000 fine incurred for his part in an alcohol smuggling operation. The same Joseph Fenech was famously granted a Presidential pardon in 1996 for no fewer than three separate crimes: armed robbery, drug trafficking, and his own part in the 1994 attempted murder of Richard Cachia Caruana.
The subsequent acquittal of Ian Farrugia and (later) Meinrad Calleja – both incriminated by Fenech’s testimony – had been seized upon by the Opposition to discredit both the Prime Minister of the time, and by inference the entire Presidential pardon system. The crime remains today technically unsolved, and the Malta Labour Party is still bound by a previous commitment to revoke Fenech’s three pardons if returned to power after the next election.
Earlier still, Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami had acceded to Joe Brincat’s request to pardon former Public Works Minister Lorry Sant, then facing massive corruption charges, as well as prosecution for the ransacking of the law-courts in 1987.
The recent Jesmond Mugliett saga only served to rekindle memories of these controversies. In February, the Roads Minister allegedly intervened to retain two ADT employees who had previously been convicted on corruption charges in the “cash-for licences” affair. Prime Minister Gonzi’s refusal of Mugliett’s resignation offer was justified largely on the grounds that the employees’ lawyer, Nationalist MP Dr Jason Azzopardi, had requested a Presidential pardon for his clients.
Remove politics from the equation, and it appears that Dr Azzopardi’s behaviour in this case was no different from that of virtually any other criminal lawyer you care to name. However, considering that Dr Azzopardi is a PN candidate contesting Jesmond Mugliett’s own district; that one of the convicted employees was Jesmond Mugliett’s canvasser; and that the Opposition had lost time in crying “blue corruption” from the rooftop of the Glass Palace at Mile End, removing politics from the equation was never likely to be an option in the first place.