Blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia’s lawyers have presented a court application to order the presentation of TAP3 files from mobile telephony operators to ensure that the information regarding the location of Economy Minister Chris Cardona’s phone on the days he allegedly visited FKK Acapulco are kept.

Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was not present in court today, had alleged that the minister visited a brothel while on an official trip to Germany last January, an allegation which the minister has denied, filing a series of libel suits.

TAP3 files include timestamps of calls made and SMSs sent, location area codes of where phone calls, SMS were made or data was used, the cell tower ID of the network of the foreign operator service is transferred to when travelling abroad, and other such information.

The request explains that the TAP3 file is only stored for six months.

Minister Chris Cardona says he remained in Essen Germany during his trip, where he was attending the Stakeholder Forum organised by the European Commission. The minister insists that he never went to FKK Acapulco in Velbert, a distance of 20 km away from Essen.

In their request, defence lawyers Dr Antonio Ghio and Dr Zammit Maempel said that when it will be their client’s turn to present evidence, there is a possibility that the TAP3 files regarding 30 January and 31 January 2017 might no longer be available.

They ask the court to order Vodafone, Go and Melita to, in the shortest time possible, declare whether they are the service provider of Economy Minister Chris Cardona. They also ask the court to order the conservation of every TAP3 file in related to the Minister in their possession, and every other type of file that serves the same purpose as a TAP3 file for the 30 and 31 January 2017.

An identical request was filed with regard to Joe Gerada's phone.