Former police inspector Keith Vella testified that the police did not seize a file containing excerpts of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog from Keith Schembri’s office noting that these were already available online.Schembri’s office was searched in December 2019, Schembri was present as was his deputy and later replacement Mark Farrugia.Vella served in the Police Corps between 2010 and 2021, before spending the final four years of his service with the Money Laundering Squad. The search was led by Keith Arnaud and Kurt Zahra.The jury was shown footage from this search where officers seized 45 documents from Schembri’s office. 44 of them were related to Schembri’s offshore company, Tillgate, and trust, Rotua. Vella’s superior, Ian Abdilla, said there didn’t seem to be anything new in these documents.The footage further shows Vella going through large a folder with cutouts of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s blog posts.Facing cross-examination from defence lawyer Giannella de Marco, he was asked whether this file was seized, Vella replied: “no”.De Marco added that there were handwritten notes among the printouts but Vella argued that none seemed to be relevant. He added that these posts were all available online.Vella confirmed that he kept the document with “DCG” written on it locked up until he gave it to his superior Frank Tabone once he left the police force. He further confirmed that he was never asked to exhibit it or asked about Schembri’s office search in previous testimonies.Defence lawyer Giannella de Marco questioned the basis on which evidence was seized, noting that investigators had even collected blank sheets of paper during searches at Yorgen Fenech’s office and the Tumas Group.What do you make of this development?Featured image: TVM News•