A man who got his voting document from the Labour Party’s former electoral commissioner two days before the last general election claimed he was warned to keep the matter under wraps.

“It would be better for you if you keep quiet about it,” Benedict Grech said he was told by Joseph Falzon when he met him at the Gżira Orpheum, where he got his voting document.

Mr Grech, a Sliema resident who works and lives in Switzerland, said it was Mr Falzon who called him on his mobile phone two days before the election and told him to collect his documents. He said he filed an official complaint with the Electoral Commission after Mr Falzon failed to explain how he was in possession of his voting documents for the general and local elections.

Mr Falzon, 57, from Sliema, stands charged with the unlawful possession of the voting documents.

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

All three are pleading not guilty.

While testifying before Magistrate Josette Demicoli, lawyers Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, Toni Abela and Jason Grima, for Mr Falzon and Mr Magro, asked the court to caution Mr Grech. They said he could incriminate himself because he was admitting receiving voting documents from a person who was not authorised to handle them.

Police Inspector James Grech retorted that the lawyers were intimidating the witness.

After the magistrate cautioned the witness, he replied: “I came here and swore to say the whole truth so I will say the truth. If, then, it will be used against me, so be it.”

He testified that when he went to collect his voting documents he was told they had already been collected and that he had signed for them but the signature was not his.

The case continues in June.

Lawyer Joe Giglio appeared for Mr Busuttil.