The lawyer representing developer Sandro Chetcuti, who is accused of having injured GRTU Director-General Vince Farrugia when he assaulted him at the GRTU's headquarters two years ago, this morning accused Mr Farrugia of blatantly lying under oath.

In his final submissions in the case, lawyer Edward Gatt said Mr Farrugia had initially said he was hit at least 10 times on the face and later he increased the number to 15 to 20 times.

Dr Gatt said that if his client had hit really hit Mr Farrugia 15 to 20 times, everyone would know the consequences, considering Mr Chetcuti's structure.

One of the witnesses, he said, was Marcella Agius, who was the first person to enter Mr Farrugia’s office after the incident. She opened the door and found the director general on the floor.

GRTU officials Philip Fenech, Paul Abela and Joe Attard, who walked in after Ms Agius, said they saw Mr Farrugia being kicked, which was not true.

Dr Gatt referred to the testimony of Sylvia Gauci who clearly said that she had been asked to testify that Mr Farrugia was being kicked and that Mr Chetcuti was telling Mr Farrugia 'I will kill you'. This was not true, the lawyer said.

He said his client had punched Mr Farrugia when the latter provoked him by accusing him of being a fraudster and a shady character. But that was it. The injuries were slight and limited to a scratch on his eyebrow.

Dr Gatt said it was obscene how his client, over slight injuries, was taken to a police station and made to spend two weeks in prison when such a case would normally be investigated and he would be charged in a district sitting.

His client, Dr Gatt said, was initially charged with attempted murder because two police officials wanted to look good before Mr Farrugia, who was a PN candidate, and with the previous administration. He called for an investigation into the case.

Mr Farrugia’s lawyer Steve Tonna Lowell said that if an investigation was carried out, any witnesses brought by Mr Chetcuti also had to be investigated.

Dr Gatt had ignored all the evidence and asked for an investigation just because he did not like the testimony that had been given.

The evidence showed that Mr Farrugia had suffered much more than just slight injuries. He had punched Mr Farrugia so hard that Mr Chetcuti broke his hand, he said.

Police Inspector James Grech said that allegations made by the defence against the police were unfounded and incorrect.

The defence said that they were not going to name these police officials because the information had already been given by the police.

The case was then deferred for judgement.