Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1340314
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS 102 new cases of COVID-19 were registered on Tuesday, the health ministry has announced. Active cases stand at 2,316, after two deaths were regis- tered in the last 24 hours. Total deaths stand at 297. The first death was an 83-year-old female who died at St Vincent de Paule, while the second death was a 72-year-old male who died at Mater Dei Hospital. 2,116 swab tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of swabs to 658,919. 124 recoveries were registered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 17,434. Till yesterday, 53,647 vaccines doses were administered. Of which, 17,102 were second doses. COVID: 102 new cases, 124 recoveries registered NICOLE MEILAK ENERGY Minister Miriam Dalli has defended her decision not to publish the internal Enemalta audit as of yet. In a parliamentary question an- swered yesterday, Dalli confirmed that the report has been passed on to the police to see if there is scope for further investigation on their side. She reaffirmed this today, insisting that the investigation needs to be car- ried out calmly. "Once something is presented to po- tentially form part of a wider investi- gation, that investigation needs to be carried out untroubled before being published," she said. "Since the report is currently held with police, it would be premature to publish the report because it can prej- udice any investigation that could be carried out." Enemalta had invested in a wind- farm project in Montenegro in 2015, after buying a stake in the project from Cifidex, a Seychelles-based company - but the shareholding was bought by Enemalta at a much higher premium than what Cifidex initially paid to ac- quire the project from a Spanish firm. An investigation by Reuters and Times of Malta last year revealed that murder suspect Yorgen Fenech's Du- bai company 17 Black had profited from this deal through its business relationship with Cifidex, pocketing €4.6m in profit. Police have since started investigat- ing the deal in collaboration with Eu- ropol. Miriam Dalli defends decision not to publish Montenegro wind farm audit yet Then prime minister Joseph Muscat and several ministers attended the opening of the Mozura wind farm in Montenegro with part-investment from Enemalta MATTHEW AGIUS THE Criminal Court has dismissed a number of objections filed by an elderly man awaiting trial by jury for defiling an eight-year-old girl. In 2016, Grazio Azzopardi of Żabbar, then 65 years old, was indicted and will face a trial by jury for being involved in sexual acts with an eight-year-old girl and defiling her. Azzopardi also stands accused of having used or threatened violence against the girl and of distributing child pornography. Azzopardi was further accused of committing the crimes when he was the girl's tutor. The man's lawyer had argued amongst other things that the prosecution had "dramatized" the charges so as to "immediately give jurors an impression that throws a bad light on the accused and could consequently irremediably prejudice his trial from the very beginning." Azzopardi also claimed that his statement was taken irregularly and in breach of his rights. But the court, presided by Mr Justice Gio- vanni Grixti ruled that the jury process had the necessary safeguards to counterbalance any dramatization of the charges and that the examination of whether or not the accused's statement had been taken in a manner which breached his rights or was inadmissible was something that would have to be seen at the revision stage. There was no reason for the statement in question to be declared inadmissible, said the judge. An objection to the exhibition of the state- ment on the grounds that he was not assisted by a lawyer at the time it was taken, was also rejected, as it had been taken down according to the law in force at the time. His argument that the medical doctor who examined the victim was to be taken as an or- dinary witness and not as an expert witness, as she was later so appointed by the court, was also dismissed. Judge throws out objections by elderly man accused of defiling girl