A former minister’s consultant being tried over the importation of 2.2 kilos of cocaine yesterday denied the charge and accused witnesses of lying to pay him back for crossing their path as a government official.

Father of two Norman Bezzina, 56, of Żebbuġ, a former aide to then Social Policy Minister Louis Galea, said he would continue denying the allegations made against him till his death, adding that his only involvement with drugs was to help drug addicts as one of the people who set up the drug rehabilitation agency Sedqa.

It was during his tenure as a ministerial aide that he came across at least three of the main witnesses in the case, he told the court yesterday, insisting this was what motivated their “lies” against him.

Besides being a consultant in the Social Policy Ministry’s private secretariat, Mr Bezzina also served on the board of the planning authority. In fact, he said that one of the main witnesses, Simon Xuereb, who was jailed for nine years for his involvement in the drug deal, had wanted a permit to have a kiosk in front of the former magic kiosk in Sliema but the request was denied by the planning board on which the accused sat.

Similarly, the man’s father, known as Lippu l-Boxer, was also denied a permit to build on some 16 tumoli of land in Żebbuġ, Mr Bezzina said, pointing out that he had a restraining order placed on the father in 1994 (six years before the drugs case) after he was threatened by him.

He said the Xuereb family were notorious in Żebbuġ, adding that they were known to be unreasonable people who did not take no for an answer. “If they want something from you they won’t stop until they get it,” he testified.

He made a similar argument in respect to another witness, Emmanuel Gauci, a former postal worker who testified that Mr Bezzina had called to pick a suspicious parcel at the central post office in Marsa.

Mr Gauci had been acquitted of his involvement in the case but Mr Bezzina said yesterday the man also had an axe to grind against him. The accused said a woman had approached him complaining that Mr Gauci – who at the time worked at the Finance Ministry – had demanded a bribe. Mr Bezzina said he had informed the minister about the matter and Mr Gauci then confronted him angrily in his office.

Anthony Gatt, who testified yesterday, said he was told by his brother Lawrence, to collect a package for Mr Bezzina, a job for which he was given €1,631, part of which was used to pay for the duty due on the parcel.

In hindsight, Mr Gatt said he had realised the package must have contained drugs but insisted he would have never have got involved had he suspected it from the beginning.

When questioned about this witness, Mr Bezzina repeated his denial three times and stressed he would keep denying the charge till his death.

The case continues.

Lawyers Emmanuel Mallia and Arthur Azzopardi appeared for Mr Bezzina.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja from the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted.