A defence lawyer told a panel of jurors this morning that there was absolutely no evidence linking his client to a foiled robbery on Mid-Med Bank's St Andrew's branch in 1996.

As he criticised the fact that it had taken the prosecution 18 years to bring George Xuereb to justice, claiming that this was due to lack of evidence, he said there was nothing that placed Mr Xuereb at the bank branch during the hold-up.

Addressing jurors, lawyer Raphael Fenech Adami insisted that there was a conflict in evidence produced by the prosecution.

His 49-year-old client, from Marsa, is pleading not guilty to his involvement in the attempted robbery more than 18 years ago. It had been foiled by police who happened to be close by at the time of the robbery.

"By no stretch of the imagination is there enough evidence which proves, beyond reasonable doubt, that my client was involved in this case," he said.

There was also a conflict between the version of the four prosecuting officers who investigated the case in 1996. All said they investigated a case involving three robbers but only former Police Commissioner John Rizzo mentioned five.

He said that was the information he had but was "ashamed" to say where the information came from.

"Most of the evidence we heard here was favourable to the accused. All we heard that was incriminating was the mobile, the key to the house in Qormi where convict Carmelo Spiteri was found and the fingerprints on the plastic bag found in the getaway car. But even on these, there is an explanation," he said.

The mobile found in Mr Spiteri's possession and the fact that he had the key to the house did not place the accused inside the bank committing a robbery. The plastic bag was taken from the house before the crime so it was possible that Mr Xuereb had touched it some time before.

As he cast doubts on the veracity of the version of the other man convicted of his involvement, Joseph Polidano, Dr Fenech Adami said this version contrasted with that of the other convict.

He insisted that there was insufficient evidence to connect Mr Xuereb to the attempted robbery so his client was to be cleared from the charges brought against him.

Prosecuting lawyer Lara Lanfranco, from the Attorney General's office, insisted that Mr Polidano said Mr Xuereb formed part of the gang that carried out the robbery.

Even though this was contradicted by Mr Spiteri, who told jurors earlier this week that he was the "mastermind" behind the crime, Dr Lanfranco said Mr Polidano's version was more credible.

Mr Spiteri said three robbers had carried out the hold-up and adamantly said that he only got to know the accused after the robbery took place, when he met him in court while Mr Xuereb was in jail in preventive custody.

Mr Polidano, Dr Lanfranco said, was convinced about what he was saying when he said that Mr Xuereb took part in the hold-up.

She questioned what interest Mr Polidano would have, as a person who already admitted his guilt and was sentenced and served his time in jail, to implicate other people.

She said Mr Polidano did not embellish the story but simply admitted to the crime and gave details of the role played by others.

Reacting to the defence lawyer's insistence that witnesses, including the bank employees, had said there were three robbers, Dr Lanfranco said they were terrified and most of them were lying face down on the ground so could not see what was going on and how many people there were.

“People were face down on the ground, covering their faces. This all happened in the space of two-and-a-half minutes of commotion. They were shocked,” Dr Lanfranco said.