Cabinet secretary found guilty of drunk driving after encountering police roadblock

Cabinet Secretary Ryan Spagnol was found guilty of drink-driving and had his driver’s license revoked for six months.

Court documents show that in the early morning of December 22, 2023, Spagnol encountered a police blockade as he drove through Triq tal-Barrani, Żejtun.

The police stopped his car and, finding his red eyes and behavior suspicious, they gave him a breathalyzer test.

Spagnol was found to have 42.7mg of alcohol per 100ml in his breath, almost double the legal limit of 22mg.

His lawyers attempted to discredit the breathalyzer test, but Judge Jean Paul Grech found him guilty of three counts of drink-driving, fined him €1,800 and revoked his driving licence for six months.

Although the verdict was pronounced on May 24, it was not published online until August.

Lawyer Jason Azzopardi – who recently sued Spagnol for defamation over allegations of his involvement in the Identita’ ID card fraud – claimed that Prime Minister Robert Abela had ordered the courts to delay the publication of his cabinet secretary’s ruling.

He demanded the resignation of Spagnol, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, Court Director Eunice Grech Fiorini and Abela himself.

“Not only could this not have happened without the consent of Robert Abela – and if anyone tells me that he did not know about it, I will answer that he is not even capable of running a pigeon racing club – and therefore was the author of this cover-up, but also because he chose his cabinet secretary,” Azzopardi said.

“The mafia hid a serious fact like this, in which the court found the Minister of the Interior guilty of a crime, two weeks before the elections because they did not want you to know about it.”

“Look also at the hypocrisy of Abela’s government, which preaches against drink driving while defending and covering for its own friend.”