Philip Azzopardi, a former chairman of a Mepa Development Control Commission and Anthony Mifsud, one of its former members, were today found not guilty by a court with trading in influence in the Mistra development case.

The case revolved around the outline permit which had been issued for the building of an open air disco on land belonging to Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

In her judgement, Magistrate Edwina Grima said that their intentions were not proven by the prosecution because

· The accused did not know the applicant, the developer or Dr Pullicino Orlando.

· They had no interest, shares or involvement in any agreement between the developer or Dr Pullicino Orlando.

· They were not promised, and did not receive, any money.

· They did not get, and were not promised, any other benefit.

· It was only during completely legitimate meetings that they met Dr Pullicino Orlando.

· The decision taken was taken by the whole board and did not depend just on them.

· They did not exert influence on any other board members.

· They took their decision freely and without consulting anyone.

· The decision was on the issue of an outline development permit; and

· The decision was subject to a number of conditions, namely, that the issue of a full development permit had to be subject to conditions indicated in the permit.

Magistrate Grima said that the accused did not behave illegally and they had professional integrity.

However, the court would not go into whether the decision taken was in line with the law. It was the planning authority that should ensure that all decisions taken were based on planning regulations, the magistrate said, adding that the law even established procedures through which the authority could syndicate decisions not taken according to its own law.

The court, Magistrate Grima said, had been requested to see if the accused could be found guilty of committing a crime and it found that this was not the case.