Patrick Vella (1944-2022) was a Maltese judge who was jailed for taking bribes in 2007. [1] [2] [3]
Vella graduated as a lawyer in 1967, and obtained a magister juris in European Law in 1996. [4]
Vella was appointed judge in February 1998, after serving as magistrate for 12 years. [4]
In 2022, Vella and then Chief Justice Noel Arrigo were arraigned and charged with accepting bribes, trading in influence and revealing official secrets, in favour of drug trafficker Mario Camilleri l-Imnieħru, whose trial they had been presiding over. The case had been revealed in a press conference by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami; the scandal made international headlines. [4]
Vella confessed to reducing the original 16-year jail sentence to 12 years in exchange for €23,000. After pleading guilty to accepting bribes he was jailed for two years. Vella had issued a public apology, declaring that he was sorry for the damage he caused to society. He was released in 2008. [4]
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