Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506996
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWS NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS THE Criminal Court has de- clared the compilation of evi- dence against a Libyan man ac- cused of heroin trafficking and his subsequent indictment to be null, after no less than fifteen years of criminal proceedings. Faisal Mohammed M. Wadi, 46, had been charged with con- spiracy to traffic heroin back in September 2008, after airport customs officials discovered the drugs in a suitcase belonging to Anna Spiteri upon her arrival from Tunisia. Some 3.5kg of heroin was found to have been concealed in the lining of two otherwise emp- ty laptop cases. When questioned by the police, Spiteri had insisted that she had not been aware of the drugs, as her suitcase had been packed by a man with whom she had spent a number of days in Tunisia, a certain Naji Ahmad Mohamed Al Maraash. Al Maraash had asked her to take some gifts he had bought for his family back in Malta. These were to be collected by two of his friends, to whom she was told to hand over her suit- case for eventual delivery to her hotel in Sliema. The police quickly arrested the two men in question, Mo- hammed Margash and Issam Zbeta, at the airport Arrivals Hall. Margash, who is Maraash's brother, had explained that the defendant, Wadi, had phoned him up and asked him to pick up the woman from the airport and take her to her hotel. Wadi, who had also been at the airport when Spiteri arrived, had paid €100 to both Margash and Zbeta for this errand. Wadi was arrested the next day, on 18 September 2008. He denied what had been said about him, as well as any involvement in drug trafficking. He claimed that he had been at the airport to meet Zbeta and pay him for some works that he had done. In February 2023, the Attorney General issued a bill of indict- ment against Wadi, accusing him of importing heroin and conspiracy to import heroin, and asking that the man be sen- tenced to imprisonment for life if convicted. Wadi's lawyers Arthur Azzo- pardi and Jacob Magri, had filed a note with the man's defence pleas, the first of which was that the defendant's name was Faisal Musbah Ali Wadi, and not Faisal Mohammed M. Wadi as postu- lated by the Bill of Indictment. This fact had already been ac- knowledged by the Criminal Court as far back as March 2009, the lawyers pointed out, arguing that this defect in the acts had rendered the bill of indictment null, as it dealt with a fictitious person who was not the defend- ant. In July 2023, the parties agreed to make submissions only on this plea before the Criminal Court, presided by madam jus- tice Consuelo Scerri Herrera. The judge, after examining the acts of the case, noted that the criminal record exhibited was for Faisal Musbah Ali Wadi and that, handwritten in green ink at the top of the document, were the words "may be same person." The court also observed that the case file showed that the de- fendant had been declared a pro- hibited immigrant in April 2002 and had been issued with a re- moval order, but had tampered with his passport and returned under a false identity. During the compilation of evi- dence, the Attorney General had requested a correction to the name, later authorised by the court, to read "Faisal Mohamed Musbah Ali Wadi." At that stage, the defendant had been asked to enter a fresh plea and had again pleaded not guilty. The defence insisted that al- though the charges had been read out anew, no decree of pri- ma facie had been given, which led to the nullity of the bill of indictment. In June 2009, the defence had specifically exempt- ed the prosecution from having to exhibit all its evidence afresh, observed the judge. "Once the compilation of evi- dence had to be done again, the charges had to be read out once more and the prima facie decree also had to be issued again, and had the defence not exempted the prosecution from hearing the witnesses from scratch, they would have had to testify again, too." From the acts of the case, this did not appear to have been done, said the court, "leading to the nullity, both of the acts of the compilation of evidence, as well as that of the Bill of Indict- ment…" In view of this procedural er- ror, the judge said she had no option but to declare the com- pilation of evidence and the subsequent bill of indictment to be null, ordering the defend- ant to be returned to the state he had been in before the bill of indictment was issued. Compilation of evidence and indictment on heroin trafficking declare null after 15 years JAMES DEBONO THREE partly ODZ develop- ments which together foresee the development of 22 new dwellings are being proposed on three different plots along Triq in-Nissieg in Zabbar. The street is an offshoot of Triq Haz-Zabbar, facing the farmland between Zabbar and Zejtun. All three application have been presented over the past few weeks by Silvan Mizzi the owner of Trivium Lim- ited which he co-owns with construction magnate Joseph Portelli with plans being sub- mitted by architect Maria Schembri Grima, a former BCA chairman who is the ar- chitect of choice in applica- tions presented by Portelli and his associates. Two applications envisage the development of residential dwellings in the development zone as well as two adjacent pools being proposed in the ODZ. Moreover, in what could be a new fad, the applications fore- see the subdivision of adjacent ODZ land into seven garden allotments, presumably one for each apartment. The garden allotments range in size from 27sq.m to 33 sq.m and will be accessed through a paved stone pathway. Another application will see seven apartments developed entirely on a small 261sq.m plot of ODZ land. The application also foresees the development of a pool and a small garden. All three plots are not owned by Mizzi. The applicant claims that he was authorised to pres- ent the application following an agreement with the owners. In what could become a new fad, two of the applications foresee the allotment of a 'garden' for each apartment outside development schemes Three ODZ applications presented by Portelli associate in Zabbar street