Updated | Whistleblower had informed Zammit Dimech, Simon Busuttil about Rita Schembri

Adds OPM statement at 18:10

Taking the witness stand before Magistrate Anthony Vella, whistleblower Joseph Borg this afternoon revealed that he had emailed foreign minister Francis Zammit Dimech to tell him that Rita Schembri, the head of the Internal Audit and Investigations Department at the Office of the Prime Minister and a member on the OLAF advisory board, was "not to be trusted."

Borg said that after an exchange of emails with Zammit Dimech, the minister had told him that he was going to inform the Prime Minister about it. Borg added that in a subsequent email, Zammit Dimech replied that he had explained the matter to the Prime Minister.

He said that three years ago, soon after the Court of Appeal had declared that Rita Schembri had committed fraudulent acts when she took money from two new and subsequent tenants at premises he had contracted to her, he had gone to Castille to ask for the Prime Minister, in a bid to report her actions.

He added that a person from the Prime Minister's secretariat had told him to email a certain Romina Grima, which he did, but never received any reply.

But in a statement issued later in the day, the Prime Minister's Office denied receiving any information regarding Rita Schembri.

In the statement, the OPM said "with reference to Mr. Joe Borg's evidence in Court, the Prime Minister's Office would like to clarify that the Prime Minister never received any communication from Borg about Rita Schembri."

The statement added that no person with the name Romina A. Galea worked for the Prime Minister's secretariat since 2004.

Under oath, Borg also said that he had approached MEP and PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil, who in turn urged him to report the matter to the Police.

These contacts, Borg explained, were done two days before he was arrested by Police Inspector Chris Pullicino and subsequently charged with blackmailing Rita Schembri.

Borg said that he was arrested two hours after he had emailed Schembri asking her to "redeem" herself, and to pay what she owed to two people in a commercial matter which was decided by a civil court some years earlier.

The witness explained that he never intended to blackmail anybody, but simply inform Schembri that unless she did what she was duty-bound to do, given her high position in the civil service, he would have no choice but to inform OLAF about who she really was.

"If the police bothered to read and understand English correctly, never in my email did I ask for any money from Rita Schembri," Borg said, adding that all he did was ask her to redeem herself to be trusted in the high positions she was occupying.

The witness explained that he was frustrated to learn that Schembri was part of the OLAF advisory body, when the Court of Appeal had declared that she had committed "fraudulent acts" when she illegally received thousands of Liri from third parties when subcontracting a restaurant which he had originally leased to her.

"Schembri defrauded me, and this was declared by the Civil Courts, and by the Appeals Court," Borg stressed as he presented a copy of the judgements which stated her actions when she took money she was never entitled to from two subsequent new tenants she had illegally subleased the restaurant to.

Borg also hit out at Magistrate Consuelo Herrera for having denied him bail when he was charged under arrest.

"The magistrate was the daughter of a judge I blew the whistle on over corruption matters," Borg said, adding that due to her denial of bail, he spent almost five nights in prison under preventative custody.

Meanwhile Borg, revealed that he is still in contact with OLAF, who have urged him to come forward with all the information he has on Rita Schembri.

Meanwhile, the the sitting ended, the Courts removed the order for Borg to sign daily at the St. Julian's Police Station.