Marco Gaffarena, the man at the heart of the controversies over an irregular petrol station in Qormi and the expropriation of a property in Valletta, insisted in court today that he was present for a meeting with the leader of the Nationalist Party in 2013, despite claims to the contrary.

He said he had accompanied his father to the meeting inside PN headquarters some time before the 2103 general elections.

He gave evidence during the continuation of two libel suits filed by the leader of the Nationalist Party against l-orizzont and it-Torċa following allegations that Simon Busuttil had met Joseph and Marco Gaffarena with the intention of obtaining Daewoo car import papers incriminating John Dalli in return for the long-awaited permit to operate the petrol station in Qormi.

In today's sitting, before magistrate Francesco Depasquale, Marco Gaffarena was asked to elaborate on an affidavit drawn up with the assistance of his lawyer Keith Bonnici and duly signed before Notary Mario Bugeja in August 2015.

Mr Gaffarena recalled how his father had received a call from former Minister Joseph Cassar to attend a meeting with Simon Busuttil so as to discuss the petrol station issue. Accompanying his father to the PN headquarters in Pieta, Mr Gaffarena recalled being received by Dr Cassar who asked about whether they had brought the Daewoo papers.

"We came to discuss the petrol station issue," was their reply. This allegedly prompted Dr Busuttil to declare that "if they want to operate their petrol station, they know what they had to do," which remark brought the meeting to an abrupt halt. 

Asked to confirm the exact location where the meeting at the PN headquarters had taken place, Mr Gaffarena said that this was inside a particular office on the second floor. Lawyer Peter Fenech, counsel to Dr Busuttil, promptly quipped that the room indicated was actually not his client's office.

In the affidavit it had been stated that Dr Busuttil had left the table when the meeting reached an abrupt end. However today in court Mr Gaffarena declared that the parties had been seated at two sofas around a coffee table.

Under cross-examination Mr Gaffarena denied that his father had approached Dr Cassar, requesting his intervention to block the publication of further details regarding the Old Mint Street expropriation scandal, following revelations in Times of Malta.

He strongly insisted that the only times when he had met Dr Cassar was on those occasions when he had delivered meat products, a car or whatever else the former minister used to request.

"We got calls for sums of money, €10,000 at a time" Mr Gaffarena heatedly remarked.

"However, you never got your permit," retorted Dr Fenech.

When asked to indicate which representative/s of the Labour Party, the Gaffarenas had approached before the 2013 elections, the defendants' lawyers strongly objected, pointing out that the issue had not featured in the affidavit.

Lawyer Peter Fenech was counsel to the plaintiff.

Lawyers Yana Micallef Stafrace and Andrew Sciberras were counsel to the defendants.