The judge tasked with deciding Jason Azzopardi's appeal for a probe into Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri was quoted her own decision 20 years ago that resulted in a private request for investigation turning into a magisterial inquiry.

On Thursday, Judge Consuelo Scerri Herrera began hearing lawyer Azzopardi’s appeal to overturn a magistrate’s decision not to open a probe into Camilleri and others over jobs and mooring spots at the Mġarr harbour allegedly being handed out fraudulently.

During proceedings, Azzopardi, who kept on mistakenly referring to Justice Scerri Herrera as “magistrate,” explained why he committed the “Freudian slips.”

“I’ve been calling you magistrate by mistake because 22 years ago, when you were a magistrate, you were handed an envelope that originally came from (PL MP) Carmelo Abela. You took that envelope and opened an inquiry,” Azzopardi said.

The lawyer, who issued a flurry of private requests for magisterial inquiries in recent months, cited Scerri Herrera’s decision to open an inquiry in 2003, saying she did though despite only being given information that direct orders issued by government entity Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools were suspicious.

“The information you received had no figures or anything like that, only that thousands worth of direct orders could mean there was abuse if not corruption.”

The inquiry found violations of public sector procurement regulations, but which did not constitute a crime.

On Thursday, Azzopardi argued that since then, little has changed in what is needed to merit a magisterial inquiry.

“All that’s changed is that when there is a private request, the alleged author of the act needs to be identified and that they have the right to reply to the allegations,” Azzopardi told the court.

Earlier this month, Azzopardi appealed a court’s decision to turn down requests for a probe into Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, claiming that a different magistrate to the one handling the case authored the rejection.

In his appeal, Azzopardi argued that a court decree rejecting his request for a probe into Camilleri about an Olympic-sized pool was rejected by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech and not Magistrate Brigitte Sultana, who was supposed to be handling the request.

In support of his claim, Azzopardi wrote that the “properties” of the court decree document showed that Frendo Dimech was its author. An IT professional, who was consulted, confirmed the assertion.

During the Thursday morning hearing, a court expert, Stephen Farrugia Sacco, was called to testify.

He told the court that a Word document’s creator refers to the computer that was used to create the document. Even if all the information on that document was deleted and replaced, the document would still refer to the computer that originally started the document as the creator.

Lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell, who appeared on behalf of Gozo Minister Camilleri, said that Donatella being mentioned on the document did not mean that she had written the decision on behalf of Magistrate Sultana.

“What my colleague is saying could be true, but I can think of hundreds of other hypotheses that could also be true,” Tonna Lowell said.

The document properties of another sentence.

To back the argument, lawyer Kathlene Grima, who appeared on behalf of another person mentioned in Azzopardi’s request, Marcel Meilaq, mentioned a court judgment made by Natasha Galea Sciberras that also lists a different creator in its properties.

She said that a recent judgment by Justice Galea Sciberras shows that another member of the judiciary, Aaron Bugeja, was the original creator of the document.

“I have no doubt that the sentence was written by Justice Sciberras,” Grima said, but added that she wanted to point out that such instances are common.

Besides Camilleri, Azzopardi alleges that three others – Toni Caruana, his son Christoff, and Marcel Meilaq – were involved in the racket. Charles Mercieca appeared on behalf of the Caruanas.

Azzopardi claims Caruana regularly met third parties in the village square or local band club, promising them jobs in the public sector or the mooring spaces down at the Gozo harbour, in exchange for monetary kickbacks or other gifts.

Mooring spots were secured even for persons who were not fishermen, he claims. Other people on the waiting list for the highly demanded spots were assisted by jumping the queue on the waiting list, he further alleges.

According to the claims, Caruana would then pass on the relative requests and information to his son, Christoff, until recently serving as the head of Customer Care at the Gozo Ministry and a member of Minister Clint Camilleri’s private secretariat.

This public officer would contact fellow public officer Marcel Meilaq at Gozo’s Transport Malta office, Azzopardi alleges.

The court said it would give its decision on the appeal on April 29.