Labour MP and criminal lawyer Joe Brincat had filed a request for a Presidential pardon in 1992, despite telling this newspaper last Sunday he had never asked for a pardon on behalf of his “constituents”, while refraining from commenting about pardons filed for his “clients”.
Joe Brincat had in fact written to the President of Malta back on 8 May, 1992, to stay the criminal procedures instituted against former Labour minister Lorry Sant, in the infamous law courts incidents during the afternoon of 19 June, 1987.
The incident involved the fiery ex-minister when captaining a party of Labour thugs who had ransacked the Courts of Law, just a month after the Nationalist Party was elected to government in 1987 in a tense electoral atmosphere.
In his letter to President Censu Tabone, former justice minister Joe Brincat wrote that an inquest by Magistrate Noel Cuschieri had been opened, and that Lorry Sant had been singled out from the large crowd, with a trial scheduled for the 20 May 1992.
The lawyer claimed in his letter that “since all the incidents committed by a substantial number of people were spurred on by political impulse”, and that during the time the letter was written, five years after the incidents, “the atmosphere was of a peaceful manner”, and it was no longer required in the interest of the general public that the procedure continued.
Five days later on the 13 May, 1992, the Department of Information announced that the Cabinet led by Eddie Fenech Adami had advised Censu Tabone to accede to Joe Brincat’s request and pardon Lorry Sant.
In an interview on RTK after the pardon was awarded, Lorry Sant thanked his lawyer, the President and the Cabinet.
However he later added that he had not been informed of his lawyer’s request, and had he known beforehand, he would have told him not to go ahead with it.