MEP candidate hopeful Jean-Claude Micallef was acquitted of fraud charges this morning, with the magistrate insisting that he should never have faced criminal proceedings in the first place.

Mr Micallef, a 26-year-old TV and radio presenter from Marsaxlokk, was accused of defrauding Mark Anthony Portelli out of thousands of euros in his capacity as director of Impel Communications Company Ltd.

The case dates back to July 2010, when the two men reached a sales and purchase agreement. Mr Micallef passed on three cheques, one worth €3,000, which was exchanged, and two others which were post-dated.

But a dispute arose between the two man days after, apparently after Mr Micallef felt that Mr Portelli was not keeping to the terms of the agreement, and the remaining two cheques were not honoured.

Mr Portelli filed a civil suit, and Mr Micallef also ended up accused of fraud and misappropriation.

However, Magistrate Ian Farrugia observed that there was no indication that Mr Portelli had been defrauded in any way, and that the issue at hand was whether Mr Micallef was right to stop the payments.

He also pointed out that the misappropriation claim could not be proven, as there was no indication that Mr Micallef issued cheques that he knew could not be hononured.

“It is evident that the dispute between Mr Micallef and Mr Portelli was one of a purely civil nature and that there was no scope for criminal proceedings,” Magistrate Farrugia said, before acquitting Mr Micallef of all charges.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Marion Camilleri represented Mr Micallef, who had publicly expressed his disappointment last summer at being left out of the first list of MEP candidates of the Nationalist Party, and who cited the ongoing court case as a factor.