Decree on phone location data in Cardona brothel case expected next month

Minister's lawyers argue that mobile phone data cannot be used for purposes other than those for which it was originally collected for

The FKK Acapulco Sauna Club
The FKK Acapulco Sauna Club

A decree on whether to preserve mobile phone location data that could shed light on the whereabouts of Minister for Economic Affairs Chris Cardona and an aide on the day they allegedly visited a brothel in Germany is to be delivered in July.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale is presiding four libel cases filed by Minister Chris Cardona and his consultant Joe Gerada against blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia over claims that they had been visiting a brothel in Velbert, Germany, whilst on an official trip between January 30th and February 1st this year.

Cardona and Gerada deny the claims and insist that they never left Essen, a city 20km away from Velbert.

Caruana Galizia's lawyers, Joseph Zammit Maempel and Antonio Ghio last month requested the court to order service providers to preserve data that could potentially confirm the men's wherabouts.

This morning, lawyers Paul Lia and Mark Vassallo, appearing for Cardona and Gerada, presented the court with a note, highlighting a judgment by the European Court which had ruled that mobile data preserved for a particular purpose, such as billing, could not be used for any other purpose.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale announced that he would be making a decree on the note in the next sitting and adjourned the case to July 10.