Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said in Parliament that a lost laptop which was evidence in a case of a car dealer, has been found in documents pertaining to another compilation of evidence.
Attard was replying to a parliamentary question made by PL MP Davina Sammut Hili who asked for an update on the recently revealed piece of evidence – a laptop, which went missing from court.
The Lenovo laptop linked to the case could not be found after it had been exhibited as evidence in the case against car dealer 33-year-old Bernard Attard from Żebbuġ who stands charged with misappropriating €1.2 million, fraud and money laundering.
The piece of evidence had been exhibited by the Financial Crimes Investigations Department in January 2022, but could not be found by officers. Magistrate Leonard Caruana had ordered the Court Services Agency CEO and the registrar to explain.
Attard confirmed that said laptop has been found under a different compilation of evidence of a different case, explaining that this was filed under the wrong case. He said that the Criminal Court Registrar gave witness in the case against Bernard Attard last week and confirmed it has been found.
A procedure was then done for the withdrawal of the evidence and will be presented in the right case. The person who presented the evidence in the wrong case was not a court employee, but an expert appointed by the magistrate.
On top of the magisterial inquiries already launched into the cases of missing pieces of evidence, Attard also said that the Ministry has launched administrative investigations to improve the existing system.
He said that the Court Services Agency has been in discussions in recent months to strengthen internal systems, including an investment in a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. This system will help in the management and security of exhibits, ensuring better control over each item and every movement made with each exhibit, he said.
This is not the first time evidence has been found missing from court, with the disappearance of another laptop belonging to Marsaxlokk parish priest Luke Seguna, who is facing fraud charges. This could not be found in the law courts’ exhibit room.
Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri’s phone which was held by the courts as part of the evidence in a money laundering case against him also went missing for weeks last November, only to also be found among the evidence exhibited of a separate case.
Later on in the sitting, Sammut Hili asked Speaker Anglu Farrugia for protection, citing that she had just received a phone call from someone who asked her why she had asked about the missing laptop.
Farrugia declared this as breach of privilege, and asked Sammut Hili to forward screenshots of the phone exchange, as well as involving police investigations.