Three men who in 2006 were found guilty of stealing jet fuel from Enemalta’s Has Saptan stores were this morning cleared of the charges on appeal.

Michael Attard, Joseph Farrugia and Carmel Gatt, ex-plant operators at Enemalta, had been found guilty of stealing jet fuel directly from a supply pipeline in 2006 and were last year given a two-year jail term suspended for four and fined €4,300 each.

On appeal, Mr Justice David Scicluna cleared the men of all charges accepting the point made by the defence that the accused’s statements were anti-constitutional as they had not been granted access to a lawyer.

Because of this, the statements could not be taken into consideration leaving the case without proof that they had committed the theft.