The man who used to head the Labour Party's electoral commission was this afternoon charged with the unlawful possession of someone else's general election voting documents while two police officers denied distributing the documents to someone other than their rightful owner.  

Joseph Falzon, 57, from Sliema, was charged with the unlawful possession of the voting documents for the 2013 general election and the local council election belonging to Sliema resident Benedict Grech. 

Police officers Roberto Magro, 42, from Sliema and Daniel Busuttil, 39, from Mosta, who were responsible for the distribution of the voting documents were charged with giving the vote to someone else rather than the voter. They were also charged with committing a crime they were duty-bound to prevent. 

All three pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them. 

Police Inspector Tony Cachia explained how he began investigating a letter referred to the police by Chief Electoral Commissioner Saviour Gauci from Mr Grech who claimed that he had gone to pick up his voting document on March 7, 2013, and had been told that they had already been collected. He realised that the signature next to his name was not his. 

As he was outside, he received a call from Mr Falzon to meet him next to the Gzira stadium for his voting document. The two met and Mr Falzon could not justify how he was in possession of his voting documents so he filed a written complaint with the Electoral Commission. 

Mr Cachia said Mr Falzon and the police officers who were tasked with the distribution of voting documents, Mr Magro and Mr Busuttil, were called in for questioning. While Mr Falzon refused to answer any questions, the police officers denied that they had given the voting documents to anyone else but could not explain how the documents had ended up at Mr Falzon. 

Mr Busuttil, who was distributing voting documents for the general election, said it was impossible that these documents had been collected by someone else. He said he knew Mr Falzon was the coordinator of the Labour Party in Gzira. 

Mr Magro told the police he had not given any voting documents to third parties and said that they could have been distributed from the Sliema police station after they would have left. 

Mr Cachia said his investigation into the matter stopped around the beginning of May when he was transferred to another department. He prepared a report on his investigation and referred it to his superiors for directions on how to proceed. He said the Attorney General was also asked for an opinion. 

Mr Gauci, at the time the Chief Electoral Commissioner, said Mr Grech had gone to speak to him about his voting documents and he asked him for a written complaint. He received it on March 7, two days prior to the election, but since he was too busy, he placed it on the back burner for a week until he referred the matter to the police. 

George Saliba from the Electoral Commission, said Mr Falzon was not authorities to collect any votes on anyone's behalf and that the Commissioner of Police or his representative was the only authorised person for the distribution of votes. 

Magistrate Josette Demicoli postponed the case to April when Mr Grech is expected to testify. 

Police Inspector James Grech prosecuted. Lawyers Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi and Jason Grima appeared for Mr Falzon and Mr Magro while lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Mr Busuttil.