A magistrate today turned down a request by former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit's to be allowed to represent himself in a criminal case involving a man against whom he had ordered charges to be dropped.

Upon delivery of his decree, Magistrate Saviour Demicoli was informed by Mr Zammit, who is a legal procurator, that once his request was turned down, he was joining the defence team.

The developments took place when Josmar Agius, 44, from Marsaxlokk, appeared in court over an incident at the Żabbar police station in 2013. It is being alleged that Mr Agius threatened the police and hindered them from carrying out their duties.

It was revealed in Parliament earlier this year that, when serving as police commissioner, Mr Zammit had ordered that no charges should be issued against Mr Agius over the incident.

A report by an inquiry board said this was done with no explanation or justification, but Mr Zammit has since insisted the charges did not tally with what happened at the police station.

It resulted that Mr Agius was Mr Zammit’s client when he had served as legal procurator before becoming police commissioner.

The criminal case began last May when Mr Zammit made a surprise appearance in court and asked the court to allow him to represent himself, parte civile, as he was an interested party.

Magistrate Demicoli upheld the request but since then, Police Commissioner Michael Cassar, through prosecuting inspector Robert Said Sarreo, filed an application requesting the court to revoke its decision.

In submission prior to the decree, Inspector Said Sarreo insisted that Mr Zammit should not be allowed to be admitted as parte civile lawyer as criminal cases were only open to the police and injured parties.

"He wants to be admitted because he had taken a decision. If we had to allow all the people within the police force who had taken some sort of decision on this case, we would fill the courtroom," he said.

The inspector added that the former police commissioner was not present for the incident at the Zabbar police station so could not even shed light on what had happened that day.

"The court is not there to examine the decision taken by Mr Zammit (not to charge Mr Agius) and declare whether it was a good or bad decision but to decide on the accusation brought against Mr Agius," he said.

On his part, Mr Zammit insisted that he was an interested party in the case and the entire case revolved around an administrative decision he had taken not to charge Mr Agius. He said that when he had originally made the request in May, the prosecution had not objected and Magistrate Demicoli had upheld the request.

Mr Zammit said there was case law which stipulated that an administrative decision could not be changed unless there was a good legal reason. He said that if anyone wanted to challenge an administrative decision taken by the police commissioner, they could filed challenge proceedings in court and it would then be up to a magistrate to decide whether the decision was right or wrong.

Mr Zammit said he was seeking to be present because he wanted the truth to emerge, adding that the prosecution was committing a crime by trying to hinder this process.

"It is clear that the police commissioner does not want me to be here to defend my decision because court action was taken without any further police investigations," he said, as he alleged that it was only after media pressure that the criminal case was initiated. He added that the incident in question at the Zabbar police station "was blown out of proportion".

Lawyer Joe Sammut, a Labour MP, who is appearing for Mr Agius, said he had nothing to add to what Mr Zammit had said, adding that Mr Zammit was an interested party in the proceedings. "This seems to be a legal battle between the police commissioner and his predecessor," he said.

After hearing submissions, Magistrate Demicoli ruled that Mr Zammit was not an injured party or a victim of the crime that Mr Agius had allegedly committed.

"If legal procurator Zammit is objecting to any decision taken by the police commissioner, the court is not the right forum to contest this. This case is not about the decision taken by Mr Zammit when he was police commissioner," Magistrate Demicoli said as he revoked his May decision and refused Mr Zammit's request to be admitted as parte civile lawyer in the case against Mr Agius.

After the magistrate read out his decision, Mr Zammit stood up and informed the court that he was joining Dr Sammut as part of Mr Agius's defence team.

The case was put off to October.