Malta Football Association president Joe Mifsud was yesterday cleared of smoking in a public place after being charged under the wrong regulation.

The case dates back to August 29, 2006 when he was alleged to have smoked for over an hour during a press conference at the stadium.

The Times journalist Rosanne Zammit testified in court that, at the press conference, she had asked Dr Mifsud whether he could see the irony of smoking during a news conference on sport in a place where the law had banned smoking.

Dr Mifsud was then charged under article three of the legal notice entitled "smoking in premises open to the public" which states that smoking is banned in any enclosed private or public space except for a designated smoking room.

However, the word premises is defined in the legal notice as being a place where food and drink is served with or without payment.

Article six of the same legal notice says that no person shall smoke in any workspace or public place except in a designated smoking room. Dr Mifsud was not charged under this article, but article three.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani found there was no way that Dr Mifsud could be found guilty as the prosecution did not prove that food or drink were being served in the conference room.

During the proceedings Dr Mifsud, arguing his case, had told a principal health inspector that she should re-read the law about smoking because she had misinterpreted it.

He maintained that the ban in question was restricted to restaurants and bars whereas he had lit up in a room within the Centenary Stadium at Ta' Qali.