Judge upholds bail for Jordan Azzopardi
Electronic tagging is more “serious, effective and
efficient” than signing a bail book twice daily, a court declared on Monday
morning, confirming its decision to grant Jordan Azzopardi bail.
The court issued its decree after the attorney general
sought to have Azzopardi rearrested, just days after he was granted bail.
Azzopardi was first arrested in March 2019 along with his
girlfriend, in a police raid that followed months of surveillance in an
anti-drugs operation.
The 30-year-old was subsequently charged over a series of offences
including drug trafficking, criminal conspiracy, money laundering, circulation
of counterfeit cash, possession of an unlicensed weapon, threatening and
injuring a third party and breaching previous bail conditions.
His girlfriend was also arraigned and charged with criminal
conspiracy, circulation of fake cash and defrauding three shops.
Both are pleading not guilty. His girlfriend, a mother of
five whose name was banned from publication, was granted bail a few months
after the arraignment. Azzopardi only obtained bail a few weeks ago.
Azzopardi was initially asked to sign the bail book daily,
observe a curfew and other conditions including a €150,000 personal guarantee.
A third party guarantor was to deposit a €50,000 surety which would also be
forfeited if bail conditions were to be breached.
Days later, the prosecutor filed an application before Judge
Bugeja, arguing that court orders had been breached because the third party had
deposited the €50,000 bail bond through company funds rather than his own
personal account.
The Attorney General therefore called for Azzopardi to be
rearrested or to have bail conditions tightened by requiring him to sign the
bail book twice a day.
Azzopardi’s lawyers, Franco Debono and Joe Giglio, insisted
Azzopardi had breached no bail condition.
They said the third-party guarantor, who was abroad at the
time, had issued instructions as a company director for the necessary bail
money to be deposited by the company. The receipt was made out to his name.
Defence lawyers also argued that there was no right of
appeal from the decree delivered by the Criminal Court.
Not a valid reason to revoke bail
The judge said that in this case, although the third party
was a company director, he should not have used company funds as though his
own.
However, that was not a good enough reason to revoke bail,
the court said. It ordered the guarantor to deposit the €50,000 in his name
instead of the sum deposited by the company, while rejecting the prosecution’s
pleas.
The judge said that signing the bail book twice a day would
not be enough to stop an "ill-intentioned person" from slipping out
of the country between signatures.
He noted that electronic tagging - which is currently being
assessed by lawmakers - could help with monitoring people who are out on bail.
A similar suggestion had been made by Madam Justice Consuelo
Scerri Herrera three years ago when deciding a bail request made by lawyers
assisting an alleged rapist.
On that occasion, Judge Scerri Herrera had noted that in
2012 lawyer and then-MP Franco Debono had suggested introducing electronic
tagging of suspects to allow effective surveillance.
Electronic tagging has long been mooted in judicial and
penal circles as a means to alleviate the burden on the prison facility.
In May, the government launched a White Paper on the
subject, in which it proposes allowing electronic monitoring of people
convicted of minor crimes, instead of imprisonment.
Lawyers Franco Debono and Joe Giglio are defence counsel.
Comments
Post a Comment