Serial fraudster jailed for 2008 fraud

Serial fraudster Olaf Cini has been jailed for 17 months for filing a false police report in 2008 alleging that he had been locked in a mobile toilet for hours by Publius Said, a man to whom he owed money.

The case stemmed from a loan of Lm800 (€1,840) which Cini had taken from Ina Abrekova, Said’s partner in 2005.

In his latest conviction, Cini, who according to media reports had been found guilty in 2010, 2007 and twice in 2002 for fraud, was accused of falsely accusing Publius Said of an offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of over two years.

In 2008, Inspector Roderick Agius had testified how Said had filed a criminal complaint against the accused, who had falsely claimed to have been illegally detained, threatened with a pistol and robbed by Said. Cini said that after he was released from prison in 2007 he was harassed and threatened by Said demanding repayment of the loan with interest for a total of Lm4,000 (€9,200).

The report had led to Said being arrested and charged with those offences, but had been completely exonerated in October 2011. Cini had insisted to police that he had told the truth, explaining that in 2005, he had borrowed Lm800 from a Said's partner Ina Abrekova.

Said denied ever putting a pistol to Cini's head and forcing him to sign a constitution of debt.

The court found Cini guilty of making a false police report and noted that he had not reported the alleged incident to the police immediately, but had actually met Said after the incident where he claimed to have been threatened with a pistol.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech held that there was no evidence to back the alleged claims and that there had been no reason for Said to threatened him when Cini's partner, Marthese Camilleri, had guaranteed that she would make good for the debt. Said also had additional guarantees in the form of a €1,600 watch and bracelet.

In addition to the 18 month jail term, Cini was also placed under general interdiction of 15 years.