Giovanna Debono's husband again cleared of fraud, misappropriation

Updated 11.25am Anthony Debono, husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono, has again been cleared of all charges linking him with what had been described as a “works-for-votes scandal” by a court of appeal that confirmed the whistleblower who made the allegations was not credible.  The judgement was delivered on Friday in Gozo after the prosecution sought to overturn a judgment delivered by then-magistrate Neville Camilleri in March, ruling that the information given by contractor-turned-whistleblower Joseph Cauchi, was not sufficient to prove the case beyond all reasonable doubt.  In his first reaction, Opposition leader Bernard Grech called on Prime Minister Robert Abela to apologise to the Debonos on behalf of the Labour party. Camilleri's judgement has now been confirmed by Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera who declared that the court could not find a person guilty simply on the basis of suspicions.  In this case, the evidence pointed at “unfounded or unproved suspicions” and mere allegations, said the Court, adding that it deemed Cauchi’s testimony as “neither credible nor plausible". The evidence put forward by the prosecution was “weak", she added. Not only was...