Court hears of links between Judge Pace, Psaila and Caruana

Prosecutors this morning told a court how phone interceptions had shown a link between Judge Ray Pace and Raymond Caruana and Sandro Psaila, who were being investigated in drug-related cases. Evidence was given at the opening of the compilation of evidence against  Caruana, a 51-year-old truck driver from Zebbug, and Psaila, a 40-year-old restaurateur of Valletta, who are accused of having attempted to bribe Judge Ray Pace. (Psaila is undergoing separate drugs proceedings.) The two were arraigned on Thursday, an hour before Judge Pace was himself arraigned and accused of bribery and trading in influence. Judge Pace resigned from the Bench on Saturday. Police superintendent Paul Vassallo told the court that on December 11 he and other police officers were summoned to the office of the Police Commissioner, where they were informed that they would participate in an investigation into suspected bribery of a judge. They heard recordings of phone intercepts  between Psaila and Caruana where the judge and Darren Desira, a man convicted in a drug case, were mentioned. Supt Vassallo said Psaila is the part-owner of a restaurant in Qawra where Judge Pace used to eat for free. In the...