Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, and a host of others returned to court on Thursday morning as the Vitals case against them continues.

At the last sitting over a month ago, the court – presided over by Magistrate Rachel Montebello – ruled that there was enough evidence against Muscat, Schembri, Mizzi and the other defendants for the case against them to continue.

Muscat, as well as former minister Konrad Mizzi, will face charges of accepting bribes and corruption, while Keith Schembri, who was Joseph Muscat's Chief of Staff when he was prime minister, will face charges relating to the solicitation of bribes and abuse of office.

Nexia BT’s Brian Tonna and Karl Cini, lawyer David Meli, IT manager Clarence John Conger-Thompson, auditor Christopher Spiteri, Jonathan Vella, Ivan Vassallo, Mario Gatt, Jonathan Bondin and former Allied Newspapers CEO Adrian Hillmann together with Pierre Sladden are also facing charges.

The compilation of evidence against the accused continued in court on Thursday, with last month’s declaration signifying that the Attorney General’s office can choose to formally indict the accused whenever they feel that all the evidence in the case has been presented in court.

Once the accused are formally indicted, then the case will move on to trial.  The Attorney General’s office has up to two years to issue the bill of indictment.

It was an uneventful sitting focused on two companies: MTrace PLC and Kasco Engineering Company Ltd, as some 20 representatives from different banks across Malta testified on whether their bank had any banking relationship with the two companies.

It emerged that Kasco Engineering had five bank accounts with Bank of Valletta, while it also had five bank accounts at a point with HSBC Malta which were established between 2004 and 2011, and the last of which was closed in 2017.

It further emerged that MTrace had a banking relationship with Bank of Valletta as well which spanned between 2016 and 2023.

The case will continue on 8 August.

Follow the live commentary from the court sitting below.

11:18: That brings today’s sitting to an end – thank you for following!

11:16: That’s all the witnesses we have for today’s sitting.

Magistrate Montebello says that the next sittings will be on 8 August and 21 August – the prosecution says it may not be available but the magistrate tells them to figure it out, as that’s when the sittings will take place.

The court and prosecution is hashing out who will testify in these sittings.

11:06: A representative from HSBC Malta testifies next.  He says that the bank had no relationship with MTrace, but says that Kasco Engineering had five accounts opened with the bank between 2004 and 2011, and the last of these accounts was closed in 2017.

Documentation related to these accounts is exhibited to the court.

11:01: Representatives from Fimbank, Shift4 Bank, Lombard Bank, Turkiye Guarantee Bankasi AS, APS Bank have all testified and all said that they never had a banking relationship with Kasco Engineering or MTrace.

A representative for Bank of Valletta is up next.

Kasco Engineering had five accounts with the bank, and their details have been exhibited to the court.  The representative also says that the bank had a banking relationship with MTrace between 2016 and 2023, and those details are exhibited as well.

10:52: Representatives from ECCM Bank, IIG Bank, Sparkasse Bank, MeDirect Bank, Multitude Bank, Novum Bank, BNF Bank, FCM Bank, Lidion Bank, AKbank, and Izola Bank have all testified in the past minutes.

They have all been requested to share whether they have or ever had accounts in the name of Kasco Engineering Ltd and MTrace Ltd, and all of them have replied that they have no banking relationship with the two companies – and they never had.

10:39: It is something like 22 witnesses who will testify today – but we’re already three witness in.

The representative of the Malta Business Registry has presented some documents, while a representative from Merkanti Bank has said that none of the accused have or ever had an account with the bank.

A representative from Credit Euro Bank now testifies along similar lines: he was requested to see if the bank had any details on Kasco Engineering and MTrace Ltd – two of the companies facing charges – but it doesn’t.

10:35: Montebello continues by running through lists of people who are set to be summoned to testify in the case.  Among them are the Auditor General and former Economy Minister Chris Cardona.

Magistrate Montebello says that she has also rejected a request for rogatory letters to be issued, telling the prosecution that they need to be amended to be compliant with the law.

Today’s sitting will see a representative of the Malta Business Registry testify, and a host of representatives from local banks also take the witness stand.

10:28: Magistrate Rachel Montebello enters the court room and today’s sitting gets underway.  She does a roll-call of the accused and companies which are facing charges.  One of the accused, Clarence Conger-Thompson, is not present today as he is unwell.

10:20: We are now inside court room 22, and the sitting is expected to get underway any minute.  The defence benches are full to the brim with lawyers, while a trolley with six brown cardboard boxes of what is presumably evidence related to the case sits in the middle of the room.

10:08: Good morning followers.  Today's sitting was scheduled to start at 10am, but it appears we are running slightly late.  Journalists, the accused, and their lawyers are milling around in the hall outside the court room as they all wait for the hall to be opened and this sitting to get underway.