Two businessmen yesterday denied involvement in human smuggling and claimed they were victims of a frame-up after eight immigrants said they were the ones they paid to leave Malta illegally.
Hotel owner Phillip Azzopardi, 67, of Birkirkara and company director Joseph Vella, 54, of Victoria, said that before they were charged they did not know each other, insisting this was a frame-up.
Mr Azzopardi claimed Assistant Police Commissioner Pierre Calleja had concocted the story and made the immigrants point the finger at him.
The prosecutor from the Attorney General’s Office, Lara Lanfranco, questioned how this could have been possible when Mr Calleja had not even been involved in investigations.
Mr Vella claimed he had been framed by a police informant who happened to be a big businessman in Malta and was having an affair with his wife.
The two men yesterday testified separately in a trial by jury in which they are pleading not guilty to trying to smuggle illegal immigrants out of the country and harbouring criminals.
Police Inspector Jeffrey Cilia, who had investigated the case, testified on Monday that, on August 8, 2003, the police had caught 14 illegal immigrants at Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq. Six of them had escaped from police headquarters together with another 49 three weeks earlier.
During questioning, the immigrants told the police they had been hiding at the Xemxija Bay Hotel. The police searched the hotel where they found another two of the escaped immigrants. All the immigrants identified Mr Vella and Mr Azzopardi as the men who had helped them in the escape bid from Malta.
Both men told the jurors yesterday they did not need the money and gave a list of their assets.
Mr Azzopardi said he was the owner of half an importation company, which, at the time of the alleged crime, had a turnover of some €3,495,000.
Mr Vella said he owned various businesses including a farmhouse restoration company and a car rental business besides other property and flats in Gozo.
He told the court he could not read or write, prompting Mr Justice Michael Mallia to ask him how could he cope with running his businesses, which entailed a lot of reading and writing. Mr Vella replied he hired people to do the work.
The trial continues.
Lawyers Emmanuel Mallia and Arthur Azzopardi are defence counsel.