Two court messengers currently suspended from work have pleaded not guilty to trying to steal a court file containing records of a criminal case.

Edwin Vassallo, 56, from Kalkara and Joseph Bezzina, 61, from Valletta were suspended from their job following the incident back in April 2017 which had kicked off a magisterial inquiry conducted by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech.

The two men have been charged with the attempted theft of a court file, with the intention of destroying or tampering with such records, with having sought or accepted bribes as well as with the misuse of government property.

As the compilation of evidence began on Tuesday morning, prosecuting Inspector Frank Anthony Tabone testified how on April 27, 2017 the police had been informed of the attempted theft of a court file relating to criminal proceedings against Angel Attard.

Police were informed that the file could not be found, prompting an inquiry by duty magistrate Frendo Dimech.

Both suspects had testified in the course of that inquiry. Mr Vassallo had said that some days earlier he had been approached by Mr Bezzina, who told him that he could earn a fast buck by handing over to the file in question.

Mr Bezzina had testified that on the day of the alleged incident, Mr Vassallo had entrusted him with the file relating to Angel Attard, adding that this was not the first time that Mr Vassallo had asked this of him, calling later for any file so entrusted.

Investigations revealed that on the day of the incident, Mr Vassallo had collected some files which were to be handed to magistrate Neville Camilleri.

However, the court official had instead passed the Angel Attard file to Mr Bezzina who had, in turn, placed it in a locked cupboard used as a storage space close to Hall 11 on the ground floor of the law courts building.

CCTV footage relating to the incident was exhibited to the court.

A number of witnesses testified on Tuesday, including mobile telephony expert Martin Bajada, who said that the co-accused had not directly contacted Mr Attard, but had done so through a third party.

At the end of the hearing, the court decree that there was sufficient evidence for the two men to be placed under a bill of indictment.

The case continues in September.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Amadeus Cachia and Alfred Abela were defence counsel.