A magistrate ordered the police to investigate an Austrian man from Wardija who claimed that two men had injected a substance into his neck and warned him he had only 100 hours to live unless he paid them €30,000 for the antidote.

Kostantinos Anastasiou from Vienna had testified in the case against fellow Austrian Marco Martinz who was charged with holding Mr Anastasiou against his will and maliciously administering a poisonous substance capable of causing injury or harm on August 23, 2003 at 1.30 a.m.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, however, yesterday acquitted Mr Martinz of the charges brought against him and ordered the police to investigate the supposed victim for filing a false report.

"The court feels that the accused was more credible in his version of facts and considered the victim to have ulterior motives to have created the story in particular to avoid paying his debts..."

Police Superintendent Carmelo Bartolo testified that he had received a report from Mr Anastasiou who claimed that while in the vicinity of the coast road he had been assaulted by two people who were with him in his car and they injected him with a noxious substance. They allegedly told him that if he does not pay them €30,000 he would die within 100 hours.

Investigations by the police indicated that Mr Anastasiou was the victim of a theft while in Austria where about €80,000 in cash, a Rolex watch and other items were stolen from him.

Mr Bartolo said that Mr Anastasiou had contracted a certain Bernd Derrant to recover the items in return for a sum of money. The Austrian police had recovered the items themselves before Mr Derrant had completed his task.

In the circumstances, Mr Anastasiou said he felt he did not owe Mr Derrant anything but the man insisted that he should still be paid and made arrangements to come to Malta where Mr Anastasiou was living.

In Malta, Mr Derrant was accompanied by Mr Martinz who, Mr Anastasiou had claimed, wanted to do business with him. One evening when the three were together in Mr Anastasiou's car, Mr Martinz told him to pull over to the side of the road so he could urinate. After doing so, Mr Derrant and Mr Martinz allegedly assaulted him, Superintendent Bartolo said.

The two men were subsequently arrested at the airport when trying to leave the island.

On searching their luggage, the police found a pouch containing a number of syringes of different sizes. Mr Derrant said it was steroids he used because he was a bodybuilder.

Testifying, Mr Martinz said: "After being arrested at the airport I wondered what the problem was. At first I thought it was Mr Derrant's bodybuilding steroids. Then the Police Commissioner told me this unbelievable story".

"It was like something out of a James Bond film," he added.

He insisted he was never commissioned to do any work for Mr Anastasiou. He knew that Mr Derrant was doing something for him and he thought Mr Anastasiou was only capable of doing "funny business".

He said that Mr Anastasiou had told him that he owned two castles, a big boat and would pick people up at the airport in his Rolls Royce. However, when he came to pick the two men up at the airport and they saw a Renault Cabrio he was surprised. He knew that Mr Anastasiou was accused of fraud in Malta.

The court noted that it transpired from the case that Mr Martinz was never owed any money by Mr Anastasiou. "Strangely enough, Mr Anastasiou, who was told that he had only 100 hours to live if he does not take an antidote, did not go and seek medical assistance but instead went home to sleep and informed no one until the following day".

The court said that the accused was consistent in his testimony and in the version of events and denied categorically the allegations made against him even in an early stage of the investigations.

Lawyer Joseph Giglio appeared for Mr Martinz.