The chairman of the government's privatisation unit today exonerated the former CEO of Malta Investment Management Company Ltd, Mario Mizzi, who stands charged with requesting a bribe.
He said that although he had previously told police he thought Mr Mizzi's behaviour was incriminating, he now believed the opposite.
In May 2010, the Prime Minister had asked the Commissioner of Police to investigate claims made to an official of the Office of the Prime Minister in September that somebody involved in the adjudication of a call for tenders had requested money.
Speaking during a two-and-half-hour court sitting, Privatisation Unit chairman Emanuel Ellul claimed that during the investigation of Mr Mizzi, he was treated as a common criminal.
Mr Mizzi was taken to court and investigated by the police following an alleged private conversation with one of the directors of a company, bidding for a superyachts repair contract.
Mr Mizzi sat on the adjudication board and had an alleged conversation with Paul Cardona, saying "if you take care of me, I am in a position to help you".
One of the two companies which made it to the final stages had also been downgraded and eliminated from the bidding process after Mr Mizzi spoke to foreign technical consultant Sue Hall.
Mr Ellul testified that he was copied in to the email which Mr Mizzi had sent Ms Hall asking her to effectively match her negative comments about shortlisted company SYC Limited with the points she awarded them.
He said that Mr Mizzi had acted in line with what was going on at that moment.
Mr Ellul said he agreed with Ms Hall that one of the two companies, SYC limited, had to be eliminated from the bidding process and that competitor Asteleros be given the tender because the first company was incompetent.
He said that as the whole investigation became public and Mr Mizzi was arrested, he was called to the police depot by Police Commissioner John Rizzo and questioned.
At work on the following day, he asked his secretary to print out any correspondence he had with Ms Hall and printed out emails containing the two reports in which she downgraded SYC Limited.
He said that he took the emails to the Commissioner and from then on he started being treated like a criminal and taken to task by the police. He was also accused of trying to hide documents from them.
Mr Ellul said he told the Commissioner that he treated him like he was il-Porporina.
During cross examination, defence lawyer Joe Giglio noted that the adjudication committee's lawyer, Anne Fenech, had also sent an email in which she advised that if SYC was not up to standard it should be eliminated.
The case continues.