Nine market hawkers were yesterday cleared of selling counterfeit CDs, DVDs and Play Station games after the court ruled that the prosecution failed to submit a criminal complaint against them and also because the charges were time-barred.

Adrian Cutajar, Harold Buhagiar, Nazzareno Buhagiar, Jesmond Borg, Michael Sultana, Christopher James Hughes, Joseph Mary Difesa, Renald Formston and Anthony Formston were originally charged with selling counterfeit products on their stalls at the Valletta market.

Handing down her judgement, magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that the prosecution did not submit a criminal complaint against the men. She said that without this complaint, the police cannot issue a charge against the defendants.

Moreover, she said the charges brought against the men were also time-barred because more than one year had passed since when the police started investigating the case till they were actually charged in court.

Magistrate Scerri Herrera said the prosecution did not manage to prove that the accused, who were clearly in possession of these items, were planning to sell them. For these reasons, she cleared all nine men from the charges brought against them. She also ordered the confiscation of the material which, she said, were non-compliant with the original.

Police inspector Joseph Cordina prosecuted while Dr Jose Herrera and Dr Roberto Montalto appeared for the defendants.