A court has thrown out a case filed by the police that “took offence” at a letter an insurance company sent the Police Commissioner, asking him to investigate whether officers were interfering in business affairs between two companies.

The case dates to 2008, when Inspector Yvonne Farrugia from the Economic Crimes Unit received a report from Rausi Insurance Agency Ltd alleging that a former employee of theirs, Malcolm Ellul, had misappropriated funds and was using confidential information on clients to poach them to his new employer, Mediterranean Insurance Brokers (MIB).

As part of her investigations, Insp. Farrugia obtained a list of clients whom Rausi claimed were being solicited by Mr Ellul into changing insurance companies. She instructed a police officerto phone these clients and ask them why they had swapped insurance companies.

Company’s directors Joseph Cutajar, 45, from Kalkara, and Tonio Briffa, 43, from Sliema, sent a letter to the Police Commissioner asking him to check whether a section of the police force was “truly being used to hound us and our clients in the civil and commercial interests of our competitors”.

The letter also claimed that company director Nigel Rausi had some very close friends at the CID and he had often used them to help solve certain claims.

Insp. Farrugia and other members of the department took offence at the letter’s contents but Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia threw out the case saying the directors had only asked the police to investigate.

Lawyers Joe Giglio and Raymond Zammit appeared forthe accused.