Construction tycoon Charles Polidano appealed a €100,000 fine he was given on July 3 for allegedly cutting down protected trees in Balzan, claiming he was not linked to the site in question.

Mr Polidano, known as Caqnu, claimed that the most basic elementary rules of criminal procedures were not observed in the judgement against him.

He said that he did not have any obligations or duty to prove anything but decided to provide documentary evidence that he was not linked to the site and the companies he was named as being director of had transferred this property to other companies in 2006.

Arguing that he was “selected and targeted”, Mr Polidano said the prosecution did not even mention the name of any person on site at the time of the alleged incident nor summoned any witnesses to confirm who was their employer or if they were the employees of the companies in question.

He stated that none of the witnesses testifying ever saw him or attributed the illegal act allegedly stated to have happened on the site in question to him.

Mr Polidano reserved his Constitutional rights to take action on how these procedures were originally initiated in a selective manner and the way he was treated in this case.