Accountant claims police tried to get him to admit to crime he did not commit

An accountant who in 2003 was acquitted of defaming then Finance Minister John Dalli by circulating forged documents four years earlier today continued testifying in his constitutional case against the police and the Attorney General. Joseph Ellul Grech is claiming breach of human rights because of the delay in the proceedings in which he was cleared, and other issues. Mr Ellul Grech has also been cleared of forging public, commercial or private bank documents and making malicious use of them, fabricating evidence and evading customs duty and value added tax on hunting knives, two slings, a crossbow, an air pistol, a knuckleduster and a penknife. Taking the witness stand, Mr Ellul Grech, who has been living abroad for the past 10 years, said he was arrested on November 15, 1999 and the police spent four hours searching his home. They then told him they would question him at the Msida station. He said he was never handcuffed, cautioned or told he was under arrest and he was under the impression that he was helping the police. Asked why he did not raise the fact that he was not cautioned when he was arraigned in front of the magistrates’ court, he said that at the time, he was...