The lawyer of a man who wrote to the President alleging corruption in the justice system said in court he was “disturbed” over the charges.

Christian Demanuele, 39, a company director from St Paul’s Bay, sent a letter to the President in March accusing magistrates, an official from the Attorney General’s office and a police inspector of corruption.

In May, he pleaded not guilty of accusing people of committing a crime he knew had not taken place, making false claims against them and vilifying and insulting them.

His lawyer, Mark Busuttil, said yesterday he felt “disturbed” by the charges of vilification and making threats.

He made serious allegations against a number of people in high authority

He asked Police Inspector Saviour Baldacchino several times whether it was a crime to pen a letter about one’s concerns.

Mr Baldacchino, the prosecuting officer, replied that while everyone had a right to write such a letter, what the police investigated were the contents of the letter, not the fact that Mr Demanuele had written it. He said that, in the letter, Mr Demanuele had engaged in mudslinging and the way it was written had cast a bad light on the whole justice system.

Mr Demanuele had made serious allegations against a number of people in high authority but it later transpired that the allegations were false, the officer said.

It resulted in court that among those mentioned in the letter was Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera and one of the allegations in her regard was that her caseload had been decreased because “she was not good”.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke is expected to continue hearing the case on November 2.