Keith Schembri has ceded a court case in which he claimed that his fundamental rights were breached when the courts misplaced his mobile phone for weeks.

That phone – a different one to that which he lost hours before he was first arrested in late 2019 in an unrelated court case – was being held in evidence by the courts in money laundering proceedings against him.

Schembri, who served as chief of staff to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, had filed the constitutional case almost a year ago to date, claiming that the manner in which the phone was ‘lost’ and then discovered among the exhibits of a separate case was “far more serious than simply bad administration.”

Schembri, his father and two business associates stand accused of money laundering. They are pleading not guilty.

The saga concerning the device began when a prosecutor from the Attorney General’s office informed the court that Schembri's phone was not in the case file.

That information led to a search, ordered by then presiding Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech who, within minutes, was informed that the phone had been found.

It had somehow ended up among the records of another criminal case that was closely related to Schembri’s case.

Following that episode, Magistrate Frendo Dimech addressed court during a brief hearing to set the record straight, stating that the devices seized during the financial crimes investigation had been exhibited in evidence.

Three days later her deputy registrar handed them to the courts’ exhibits officer for safekeeping and that was where they remained, said Magistrate Frendo Dimech, stressing that all exhibits related to Schembri “remained in the possession and exclusive uninterrupted custody” of that officer.

However, after that phone incident, Schembri’s lawyers filed a constitutional complaint, voicing suspicion and concern as to what might have happened “behind the scenes” and casting doubt upon the chain of custody of that piece of evidence.

The lawyers challenged the admissibility of the phone in evidence and sought moral damages and other measures for Schembri’s alleged breach of rights.

The judge leading that case, Mr Justice Mark Simiana, conducted an on-site visit to the courts' exhibits room last February. 

Schembri's lawyers, prosecutors and the registrar of the criminal courts were all present for that visit, during which court expert Martin Bajada checked the exhibits, photographing and minuting the whole process.

The case was scheduled to resume on Friday but prior to the hearing Schembri’s lawyers filed a note, formally informing the court, presided over by Mr Justice Mark Simiana, that the applicant was ceding the case.

The case had been filed against the Attorney General, the Police Commissioner and the Registrar of the Criminal Courts and Tribunals.