One of the suspects behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination has been cleared on appeal of his alleged involvement in an armed holdup on a cash van back in 2000.

Alfred Degiorgio had been targeted by criminal prosecution, alongside Mario Cutajar and Emanuel Formosa, over their alleged involvement in the violent coup on a Group 4 cash van on October 26, 2000 in Canon Road, St Venera, from which almost Lm1 million (€2.33 million) were stolen.

Mr Formosa, a Group 4 employee who had been driving the van when the holdup took place, had been cleared of all liability by a Magistrates’ Court last year.

The other co-accused, Mario Cutajar, at whose house the allegedly stolen cash had been discovered, stuffed in plastic bags tucked away under a mattress, was declared guilty of having handled stolen property and was handed a suspended sentence.

Alfred Degiorgio, who had been implicated by the other co-accused when releasing their statement before investigators, was likewise found guilty of having handled stolen property, with a solitary fingerprint on one of the cash-filled bags deemed sufficient evidence linking him to the robbery.

He was handed a two-year jail term suspended for four years and filed an appeal.

In its judgment, the Court of Criminal Appeal presided over by Madam Justice Edwina Grima, after a detailed examination of the voluminous records of the case, pointed out a procedural defect which appeared to have escaped the first court as well as the parties.

In the original charges, the prosecution had issued the charge of handling stolen property solely against Mr Cutajar. However, when referring back the records to the court, the AG had attributed this offence to all three co-accused.

Therefore, Mr Degiorgio could never have been found guilty of an offence in respect of which he had not been originally prosecuted and for which there had been no compilation, the court declared.

As for the material evidence, Madam Justice Grima observed that the prosecution’s case had hinged upon a solitary fingerprint lifted from a red and white plastic bag containing some of the cash allegedly stolen in the holdup and found to be compatible to a finger on Mr Degiorgio’s left hand.

Yet, there had been no other evidence linking him to the crime, the Court went on, noting that the first court had concluded, on the basis of the fingerprint, that the accused had definitely handled the bag at some point.

However, this did not mean that the accused had touched the cash, the court observed, adding that it had not been proved whether he had touched the bag before or after the robbery, when empty or cash-filled.

It all added up to a series of suppositions tied to the presence of that tell-tale fingerprint, which however, were “mere conjectures which fell short, by far, of the moral certainty required by law to establish guilt,” the court concluded, thereby upholding the appeal, revoking the punishment and clearing the appellant of all criminal liability.

Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi and Rene Darmanin were defence counsel.