A court will decide on July 10 whether to preserve mobile phone data records which could shed light on the whereabouts of the Economic Affairs Minister and an aide on the day they allegedly visited a brothel in Germany.

Minister Chris Cardona and his consultant Joe Gerada had filed four libel suits against blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia when she made the claims, which they denied. 

Her lawyers, Joseph Zammit Maempel and Antonio Ghio last month asked the court to preserve mobile telephony data stored on Transferred Account Procedure (TAP) files.

Such data could shed light on calls, messages and the location of the minister and Dr Gerada, including whether they actually visited Velbert, the location of the Saunaclub Acapulco club, during their official trip to Germany between January 30 and February 1.

Dr Cardona and Dr Gerada have insisted that they had never strayed from Essen, which is some 20km away from Velbert.

Lawyers appearing for Dr Cardona and Dr Gerada today presented a note of reference, drawing the court's attention to a European Court case that discussed whether mobile data preserved for a particular purpose, such as billing, could be used for any other purpose.

Magistrate Francesco Depasquale adjourned the case to July 10 for the delivery of the relative decree.

Lawyers Paul Lia and Mark Vassallo appeared for the applicants.

 

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