Lawyer and former PN MP Jason Azzopardi has withdrawn his allegations against Cabinet Secretary Ryan Spagnol and his alleged involvement in the Identità scandal.

Libel proceedings initiated by Spagnol were dropped today after Azzopardi retracted his claims made initially on Facebook.

During summer of last year, Azzopardi took to social media to reveal details about the Identità scandal that took the country by storm.  He alleged that Spagnol, as a worker at then-Identity Malta, was part of the racket that issued thousands of residence permits and ID cards in return for bribes.

The lawyer based his claims on a statement made by an Egyptian person who was recently sentenced to six months in prison over the falsification of documents.

However, Azzopardi declared in Court that he is withdrawing all allegations he had made and apologised for making them. He added that the allegations were made with genuine intentions and not to attack Spagnol’s credibility, claiming that he confused Spagnol with someone with a similar name.

He further noted that during the proceedings of the magisterial inquiry into the alleged racket, he had stated that Spagnol is not one of the persons whom he suspected of committing a crime.

Spagnol was assisted by lawyer Chris Cilia.