The Home Affairs Minister's chief of staff Silvio Scerri was investigated for an alleged 2011 plot to have boxer Scott Dixon murdered, a court heard today. The report may have been false, the police inspector said.
Testifying in a libel case before Magistrate Francesco Depasquale today, Inspector Chris Pullicino said that in November 2011 Mr Dixon together with his girlfriend, Mr Scerri's former partner Stephanie Chircop told the police about a video in which a Polish man claims Mr Scerri "invited" him to kill Mr Dixon.
The Polish man, named Carol, claimed that he went to Mr Scerri's house together with a certain Alex Zammit, and Mr Scerri told the Pole to shoot Mr Dixon.
(Silvio Scerri)
Inspector Pullicino said that Mr Scerri was arrested, and CCTV footage and computers were seized from his home.
The Inspector said that investigations are still ongoing, but "it may have been a false report."
Stephanie Chircop
He said Alex Zammit and Stephanie Chircop were also arrested and questioned by the police.
The libel case was instituted by Ms Chircop against the editor of the Maltese-language paper Illum for an article titled "Television presenter in court on frame-up and criminal conspiracy."
Lawyer Joseph Zammit Maempel appeared for Ms Chircop.