Nobody in the Sliema council knew about two Apple Mac laptops councillors Yves Bobbi Cali, 64, and Martin Debono, 52, had bought using council funds, Police Inspector Angelo Gafa told the court this morning.

Mr Cali and Mr Debono are pleading not guilty to misusing a computer, damaging government property and misappropriation of a computer.

Taking the witness stand, Inspector Gafa said that in September/October 2010 he had received two anonymous letters with a number of allegations.

The allegations in the second letter concerned Mr Cali and Mr Debono and a certain Peter Pace.

One of the allegations was that two Apple Macbook pro laptops had been purchased using local council funds for around €2,000 each and that these laptops were at the homes of Mr Debono and Mr Cali.

Inspector Gafa said that during the investigations he spoke to council secretary Svetlana Caruana and accountant Christian Vella.

Ms Caruana told him that the computers were noted as computer hardware in the council invoices and they had been bought for €1,163 each.

When a new council was appointed in March 2010, Ms Caruana had asked for a mid-term audit report.

When this report was made and presented, this issue of the computer hardware had been flagged and the council wanted to know what this hardware was. No one knew about these two Apple laptops.

After she became mayor, Joanna Gonzi asked for the council to send a letter to former councillor Nikki Dimech, former secretary Althea Borg and the computer supplier to find out what this invoice was for.

Mr Cali had been present for the meeting when this request was made but Mr Debono was not.

Mr Cali did not say anything at that point but turned up at the council with the laptops without hard drive and power supply on the following day.

He told Dr Gonzi that he and Mr Cali had personally paid for the hard drive and power supply. He said he had given Mr Debono €250.

When Inspector Gafa spoke to Mr Debono, he told him they had paid €50 each for the hard drives.

The inspector said the police went to Marius Macs Ltd, from where the laptops had been bought, and they were told the computers were sold as one unit, including the hard drive, in a sealed box.

The salesman said he was was even tipped a total of €50 for his efficiency.

Former secretary Borg told the police she had never seen any previous quotations for the laptops and no receipts for the hard drives had been presented to the council.

During interrogation, Mr Debono insisted he had always acted within the law and that he had bought the hard drives for €50 each. However, he did not have any receipts and refused to answer further questions.

Mr Cali said he had forked out another €250 above and beyond the €50 he gave Mr Debono so that he could have a better hard drive.

The case continues in November.