A two-year jail term imposed on private investigator Joe Zahra has been reduced to 17 months on appeal.

Mr Zahra had been convicted of having fabricated a report which claimed irregularities in the granting of tenders for the building of Mater Dei Hospital, a report which also implicated Finance Minister John Dalli.

Mr Dalli, who subsequently resigned, always denied wrongdoing and the Prime Minister had asked the police to investigate Mr Zahra's report.

The appeals court revoked that part of the first court's sdentence which found Mr Zahra guilty of giving the police false information about a crime which he knew would not have been committed. It however, confirmed the rest of the first court's findings

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