A man was cleared of trying to bribe a witness in his brother's trial by jury to change his version of events.

Mario Farrugia, 45, had been charged with trying to corrupt a witness who was due to testify in a trial by jury against his brother by trying to make him give false testimony.

The case dates to November 2014, when the accused was, at the time, serving time behind bars.

In December 2014, the police were informed that a certain Faiz Omar Elsallak had been approached by the accused who offered him a sum of money to change his version of events when called to testify against his brother in a trial by jury. The trial of Noel Farrugia was eventually heard and he was acquitted.

In his statement to the police, Mr Elsallak claimed that Noel Farrugia had stabbed him with a knife, which led to him being summoned to testify in the trial by jury.

He claimed that the accused had sent him a message with a certain Walid Laouini, who had been transferred from Mr Farrugia's division to Mr Elsallak's division, to convince him to change his version.

Mr Elsallak claimed he was asked what sum of money would be sufficient to persuade him to change his mind, to which Mr Elsallak said he replied that he was not in a state of mind to think about it. He was subsequently offered €5,000, an offer which eventually went up to €30,000 to convince him to speak to the defence lawyer on how he should testify.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli heard how the accused had allegedly wanted Mr Elsallak to forgive his brother.

The accused's mother, Josephine, had testified that while she was visiting her son in prison, she had been approached by a Libyan national who asked her to give Mr Elsallak a sum of money for him to say the truth on the witness stand. She said that Mr Elsallak had sent her a message to send him €15,000 but she had refused since the lawyer had told her she need not fear for her son.

The mother said that she had previously known Mr Walid through a brokerage issue.

The accused categorically denied the allegations, adding that it was Mr Elsallak who had sent Mr Laouini to ask him to convince his mother to give Mr Elsallak €15,000.

Lawyer Edward Gatt testified that as the trial was approaching, the defence and the Attorney General had been exploring the possibility of plea bargaining but no agreement had been reached.

A few days before the trial began, Mr Farrugia had told him that he had been approached by Mr Elsallak who asked him for money to change his version of events from that given in the compilation of evidence. Dr Gatt told her this was not permissible and informed the prosecution.

The court deemed the accused's version to be much more credible.  It was evident that it was the accused who had been approached and who had, in turn, taken the necessary steps to avoid problems.

Mr Farrugia was cleared of all the charges brought against him.

Lawyer Edward Gatt was defence counsel.