A magistrate yesterday rapped the police and the Attorney General’s office for failing to respect a court ruling instructing it to give a defence lawyer access to its evidence.

Magistrate Neville Camilleri deplored the prosecution’s refusal to pass on its police file on the case against Anthony Debono, a 59-year-old Nadur resident, husband of former Gozo Minister Giovanna Debono, who is facing a total of 13 charges, including misappropriation of public funds.

The police allege that he was involved in creating a works-for-votes system to carry out private projects for constituents while he ran the Construction Maintenance Unit at the Gozo ministry.

He was investigated after contractor Joe Cauchi turned whistleblower and accused Mr Debono of tasking him to carry out works for constituents and issuing false invoices for them. In November, the court had ordered the prosecution to pass on the police file to defence counsel Joe Giglio.

However, on the eve of yesterday’s sitting, he was informed that the AG’s office had advised against it, prompting the AG to file a request for the order to be revoked.

A furious Dr Giglio expressed his “disgust” and asked for the AG and the police to be found in contempt of court. However, the magistrate limited himself to rapping the police for its failure to abide by his “crystal clear” decree.

During the rest of the sitting, government employees confirmed that the vast majority of sites where work was carried out was government-owned land.

The case continues next month.