Former journalist cleared of benefits fraud

DJ and former Orizzont journalist Charlot Lautier has been cleared of benefits fraud by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Lautier last year faced a 13-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after the court found him guilty of fraud charges. He was ordered to pay €4,869 to the department of Social Security for allegedly claiming unemployment benefits whilst working as a tour operator. 

Lautier had consistently stated that his trips abroad had simply been a hobby.

The conviction was discredited by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday, with Madam Justice Edwina Grima ruling that the prosecution had "completely failed" to prove that Lautier had conducted his tours for profit.

Prosecutors had accused Lautier of advertising tour operator services under the name DJ Charlo and Fun Travel online and in print. However, the judge noted that the adverts exhibited in court referred to tours that were held after those specified in the charges.

Crucially, the prosecution had failed to exhibit any applications for social benefits by Lautier. The court held that there was “absolutely nothing in the acts that show what was declared by the applicant to the Department of Social Security.”

In the “worst case scenario”, the court said he might have been guilty of a minor offence under the Social Security Act by failing to inform the director that he had received payments for a period of days which would have allowed the benefits rate to be adjusted, noting that it was “a charge that was not made and an action that the Director of Social Security did not feel the need to take action against the appellant.”