An appeal filed by the Attorney General's Office against a man who had been cleared of conspiring to traffic in ecstasy was thrown out because of a mistake in the charge.

Kevin Fiorini, 29, was found not guilty of conspiring to traffic in the drug but guilty of simple possession and was given a conditional discharge for three years.

The Attorney General filed an appeal on the grounds that the Magistrates' Court had passed judgment after an incomplete or wrong consideration of the law.

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano ruled the court could never have found Mr Fiorini guilty of conspiracy because the charge itself was defective and did not make sense.

The court ruled that ecstasy (MDMA) was not regulated by the Dangerous Medicines Ordinance, Chapter 101, but fell under Chapter 31, the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance.

Had the prosecutor asked during proceedings for the charge to be changed, then the problem would not have arisen. The prosecutor thought he was being more precise but instead messed things up because he referred to one law instead of referring to another.

If the appeals court were to find the accused guilty of this charge, it would be finding him guilty of breaching an inexistent law because under Chapter 101 there existed nothing that tackled drug possession, trafficking or conspiracy related to ecstasy or its variants, the Chief Justice noted.

This point, and only this point, rendered the first objection of the Attorney General null.

The court also threw out the second objection by the Attorney General, that the first court had made an incorrect appreciation of the evidence.