The girlfriend of alleged drug kingpin Jordan Azzopardi scribbled down a series of questions to put to a witness in an attempt to stop him from testifying, a court was told on Tuesday.

“Do you have WhatsApp so I may contact you since it’s safer that way?” the woman had allegedly written on the paper she was to hand over to a third party, who would in turn relay them to a former customer of Mr Azzopardi.

“What did you spend at Pieta’?” [referring to a Pieta’ property targeted in one of the drug raids in the build up to Mr Azzopardi’s arrest], she had also written, adding: “If he gives you €10,000 you will not testify.”

The questions were to be given to Luke Vella, a former customer of Mr Azzopardi’s, prosecuting inspector Mark Anthony Mercieca told the court on Tuesday.

Mr Azzopardi’s girlfriend, a mother-of-five, was arrested and charged after Mr Vella had spilled the beans about the alleged bribery attempt when taking the witness stand in the drug compilation on June 13.

“I'm speaking out because I've had enough. They've been threatening me even up until last week,” the man had said under oath.

The woman and Mr Azzopardi had exchanged two calls while in custody, the inspector told the court. The first was on June 6, when the two had named a person who was to be approached. The following day, the woman had informed Mr Azzopardi that the targeted party had been approached.

Airbnb plans

On Tuesday, a young man arrested during one of the raids at a Marsa farmhouse and currently serving time behind bars explained how he had planned to convert a Pieta’ property formerly belonging to his grandmother into an Airbnb rental property.

Mr Vella was to be his partner in that venture, but their plans had gone up in smoke when Jordan Azzopardi walked into the picture and they all ended up arrested.

“I was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lee Jonathan Borg rued at the start of his testimony.

Just one week before his arrest, Lee Jonathan Borg had been approached by Mr Azzopardi. He wanted to rent the Pieta’ residence for a person who was “homeless.”

The two struck a deal for €700 a month, Mr Borg stated today under oath, explaining how he had asked his aunt to collect the payments from Mr Azzopardi.

“I had no idea of what went on inside the place,” Mr Borg said, shedding little light when asked directly by the prosecution about calls which he had made to Jordan from prison. 

His aunt, whose name was banned under court order, also took the witness stand on Tuesday. She identified Mr Azzopardi, who was sitting in the dock, as the man she had met in Gżira a few times, always in the evening. He would sometimes be accompanied by a woman - the co-accused – she said.

The aunt told the court how she had received small payments running up to around €400 and said that, after hearing on television about the raid at the Pieta’ premises, “it stopped there.”

The compilation continues next month.

Inspectors Mark Anthony Mercieca and Justine Grech prosecuted.

Lawyer Anne Marie Cutajar from the AG’s Office also prosecuted.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were counsel to both accused.