Update 3 | Court orders return of mobile phone to Vella, govt aides deny filing police report

Magistrate Marseann Farrugia has ordered that the police should return a mobile phone and iPad seized from immigration official Norman Vella, after finding no reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed when he was reported of allegedly photographing two government officials inside the Malta airport.

Earlier today at 3:22pm, the head of government communications Kurt Farrugia and home affairs ministry spokesperson Ramona Attard denied claims by Norman Vella's lawyers that they had filed a police report against him, and of having snapped a photo of them as they passed through passport control at the Malta International Airport.

"Having read what lawyers Karol Aquilina and Therese Commodini Cachia said in comments to the media, we deny having filed a report in this matter. We did not speak to anybody from the police on this case, having first learnt of this incident the second we arrived in London Heathrow Airport, and only from what we saw in the media. These statements put into doubt their author's credibility."

The lawyer representing the immigration official arrested on Sunday told a court it was Farrugia and Attard who reported Norman Vella to the police as they left for London. Karol Aquilina, also the Nationalist deputy mayor for Siggiewi, told the court it was police inspector Maria Stella Attard who had told him that Farrugia and Attard reported Norman Vella, formerly a TV presenter seconded to the public service from his border control post, to the police. The inspector had spoken to him on the phone when Vella requested legal assistance.

Vella was arrested for allegedly snapping pictures of Farrugia and Attard as they passed through passport control, a supposedly restricted area, although none of the photos were found on either his mobile phone and iPad that were seized by arresting officers.

In his evidence to the court, Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit also said that he had not seen the alleged photos.

Vella filed a court application to have his personal mobile devices returned to him. Zammit told the court he had no objection to return the seized tablet and mobile phone to Vella, after any evidence is extracted from the gadgets. "If the police return the items prior to concluding all forensic evidence, all parties will remain under suspicion," Zammit said, defending the work of officers who arrested and questioned Vella on allegations that he had leaked the photos to Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Zammit said the seizure of the device was well within the remit of a police investigation. "Evidence needs to be collected and analysed in order to corroborate or annul any allegations," Zammit said. "There is prima facie evidence that Vella used his personal equipment in a way which lead to suspicions he was in breach of law."

Zammit said that CCTV footage taken by airport security cameras was still being analysed, but he said that footage seen by the investigating officers shows Vella talking to another person near the passport booths, and acting as if he was transmitting data.

"He cannot behave as a journalist while working as an immigration officer," Zammit - who is also Principal Immigration Office - said. "In his position Vella can neither keep nor share information about who travels in and out of the country or any passenger movements. There are specific systems and legal structures in place to protect such data."

Zammit also the court he was legally bound not to reveal the identity of the people who filed the report and asked the court to reject Vella's request until all forensic analysis are complete.

Applicant's lawyers Karol Aquilina and Therese Comodini Cachia, a candidate for the European Parliament elections on the PN ticket, argued that the police action against their client was reminiscent of a police state. "The still photography evidence exhibited in court shows Vella looking at a mobile phone. He could have easily been checking football results," the lawyers said.

Aquilina said  evidence exhibited by the police does not prove the claimed breach of law. "The police did not launch an inquiry about the case. Officers simply reacted to information passed on to them by two government officials, which claims have not been corroborated by any evidence," he said

Dr Comodini Cachia argued that it was not an offence to use a mobile phone in a public area such as that where the alleged offence took place. "It is not a restricted zone but just an area to differentiate between a Schengen area and non-Schengen area," she said.

Addressing the media outside the law courts Dr Comodini Cachia said the Commissioner admitted the report was filed by the two government officials, and also to the arrest of Vella. "The big secret the police are trying to hide is that Farrugia and Attard travelled through the Maltese airport," the lawyer said.

Farrugia and Attard travelled with other government staff for a course in government image and communications hosted in London.