Mepa official denies asking for backhander

A planning authority official yesterday denied asking for money from a man in exchange for sanctioning an illegally built property.

The property at the centre of the case is owned by Matthew Camilleri, who claimed 60-year-old Carmel Azzopardi, from Kalkara, had asked him for a sum of money to issue the compliance certificate.

The request, according to the prosecution, was made on May 7 this year in Żebbuġ following an on-site inspection.

Standing in the dock wearing a grey suit, Mr Azzopardi, with tears in his eyes, denied the charge of requesting a bribe as a public official.

When asked what plea he would be entering, his defence lawyer Joseph Giglio said: “Isn’t it obvious, not guilty.”

He added that he was contesting the charge with “all his might”.

The lawyer told Magistrate Edwina Grima that his client would phone the various entities involved in a project and liaise with them and explain why they were ineligible for a certificate unless authority regulations were met.

He did not only speak to the owners but to everyone, he added.

In asking for bail he said that it would be ridiculous for his client, a 60-year-old, hard-working man, to be kept in a cell until his alleged victim testified.

Magistrate Grima granted him bail against a personal guarantee of €10,000 and a deposit of €500.