Magistrate Marsanne Farrugia has ordered the police to return a mobile phone and tablet to former tv presenter Norman Vella. 

The ruling came after the court heard an application filed by Mr Vella, who demanded that the police give back his phone and tablet, which were confiscated on Sunday after allegations that he had photographed two government officials while working as an immigration officer at the airport. 

The magistrate declared that there was no reasonable suspicion that Mr Vella had committed a crime and ordered that the devices be immediately returned to their owner. 

Earlier, Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit told the court that he has not seen footage showing Mr Vella taking photos at the airport.

Mr Zammit was speaking during the hearing on an application filed by Mr Vella on Monday demanding that his mobile phone and tablet be returned by the police. They were confiscated by the police last Sunday after Mr Vella was interrogated for allegedly taking photos of the government’s head of communications Kurt Farrugia and communications coordinator for the Home Affairs Ministry Ramona Attard in a restricted area.

Police ‘had right’ to confiscate items

Mr Zammit insisted that the police had every right to confiscate Mr Vella’s phone and tablet since he could have breached the laws in a restricted area.

The commissioner said that the police investigations were ongoing and the devices would be examined by a forensic expert. Experts would potentially be able to recover any deleted photos. Mr Zammit said that any data collection would be done in the presence of Mr Vella, and the devices would be handed back once the investigations are concluded. The commissioner said that his personal opinion was that the defence wanted to prevent any proof from being discovered. He said that the police wanted to do a thorough job and, in future, if someone else accused Mr Vella of the crime the police would not be held accountable if they were stopped from investigating properly. Mr Zammit insisted that this is a serious crime that the police needs to investigate.

Defence says ‘no crime committed’

However, lawyers Therese Comodini Cachia and Karol Aquilina, who are representing Mr Vella, accused the police of having no real case and abusing their powers.

Dr Comodini Cachia said that the commissioner was alleging that Mr Vella revealed professional secrets, but the “big secret” was, in fact, that Ramona Attard and Kurt Farrugia had gone abroad. She argued that the immigration area is restricted for the sole purpose of distinguishing between the Schengen area and the normal area, and taking a photo was not a crime. Even if it was, there was no proof to show that Mr Vella took pictures. “The alleged crime does not make sense. It doesn’t even exist.”

Dr Karol Aquilina, on the other hand, insisted that the police could only confiscate the devices if there was a criminal investigation. “The police have not confirmed that there was a crime and our client has not been informed of any criminal proceedings against him. So how can the police confiscate his belongings?”

The defence lawyers argued that Mr Vella might have sensitive information on the devices, both as a journalist and as a person who is taking legal action against the government in another case. He has already shown the photos stored on his phone to the police at the airport so there is no reason for the police to confiscate the items. There can be no guarantees that the information on his phone is not violated.

CCTV stills do not show Mr Vella taking photos

Mr Zammit said that he was informed by the investigating officers that Mr Vella had taken photos and passed them on to someone else. The CCTV footage showed Mr Vella speaking with another person while holding the phone “as if they were transmitting information.” A few minutes later Daphne Caruana Galizia uploaded a story which said that Kurt Farrugia and Ramona Attard had gone abroad. At this point he produced two still photos taken from CCTV footage which showed Mr Vella with phone in hand, pointed at the ground. Standing next to him was another person whom the police have identified. He said that the photo showed the moment the phone was passed from one person to the other. The police were informed that Mr Vella had made a heated phone call to someone, but they did not know who the recipient was. Allegedly, Ramona Attard and Kurt Farrugia were mentioned during the call.

Replying to questions by Mr Vella’s lawyers, Mr Zammit said that he had not listened to any recordings of the phone call that Mr Vella allegedly made after taking the photos. He had also not seen any CCTV footage showing Mr Vella take pictures and had not seen the photo that was allegedly published on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog. Ms Caruana Galizia has denied publishing and then deleting a photo.

The Commissioner also said that he had made no request for the call logs or for tapping, and he would not do so. The police wanted to investigate the items in question first. Mr Zammit said that he had only spoken to the Minister on the case.

‘Government officials made report’

Dr Comodini Cachia said that the police had interrogated Mr Vella for four hours specifically for taking photos but were now saying that he could have sent the information by SMS or a call. Does this mean that no photos had been found on his phone?

Taking the witness stand, Dr Aquilina said that Inspector Maria Stella Attard had told him on the phone on Sunday that Mr Farrugia and Ramona Attard had filed the report. She told him that Mr Vella’s phone was going to be confiscated but he had argued that she couldn’t because no crime had been committed.

The defence argued that the police can only seize an object if there is proof of a crime. But there was no crime in this case. “The way the commissioner explained things only amount to an abuse of power reminiscent of a police state. There is no way of saying that the photos show Mr Vella sending data. This was nothing more than a fishing expedition.”

The police had arrested Mr Vella without having reasonable suspicion. Someone else could have leaked the information, as hundreds of people went through immigration, but no one else was interrogated.

If there was proof of a crime why had the police investigation not been concluded yet. More than two days have passed and all they could come up with was photo showing Mr Vella pointing his phone to the floor. Dr Comodini Cachia said that she was “impressed with all the failings of this investigation.”

Dr Comodini Cachia said that the Schengen system does not even gather information about passengers, so how could the commissioner accuse Mr Vella of divulging information that was not even stored. The secret information the commissioner is talking about does not even exist. The police had first arrested Mr Vella and now they were tryng to come up with a crime.

But Mr Zammit insisted that this is what made the case more serious. Information was not kept for privacy purposes, so it was wrong to leak it to be published.

Later on, Dr Comodini Cachia addressed journalists outside the court building. She said that the Police Commissioner had admitted that Mr Vella was arrested for four hours and that the ‘big secret’ was simply the fact that Mr Farrugia and Ms Attard had flown out of the country from MIA. “These statements contrast to what members of the government said a few hours before.” On Monday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat insisted that Mr Vella had been interrogated but not arrested.