Badly preserved evidence leads to acquittal

A court has acquitted seven people of charges relating to selling high-sulphur diesel after it held that the charges had not been sufficiently proven.

Gianni Camilleri, 68, Frangiska Bellizzi, 68, Wigi Camilleri, 76, Emanuele Camilleri, 79, Angela Zammit, 80, Marija Caruana, 24 and Edward Camilleri, 47 who manage Gaetano Camilleri Service Station in Zurrieq had appeared before Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona charged with selling diesel which was not in conformity with the relevant European standards.

It emerged that samples taken from the petrol station by the Malta Resources Authority on two separate occasions in 2009 had been found to have a high sulphur content.

The court had appointed an expert to examine the samples, which however were found to have not been properly preserved by Saybolt, the company contracted by the MRA to analyse the samples in 2009. Some of the seals on the samples were broken and it could not be ruled out that the samples had been tampered with before being seen by the court expert.

The magistrate held that the charges had not been proven to the level required by law cleared the defendants of all the charges.

Police Inspector Carlos Cordina prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Angie Muscat appeared for the defendants.