Local council official acquitted of misappropriation

A former Mosta Local Council official has been cleared of allegations of misappropriation and theft, being vindicated by a judgment declaring his innocence after ten years.

74 year-old Alfonso Anastasi, had occupied the post of Executive Secretary at the Mosta Local Council in 2007. He had been the centre of a police investigation after the then Mayor, Dr Paul Chetcuti Caruana, suspecting that the official was mishandling Council funds, had filed a police report.

Chetcuti Caruana had searched the Council offices and discovered a number of envelopes containing cash and cheques - income from the payment of fines, government rents, licences and the like. This was in violation of an internal policy which dictated that no funds in excess of Lm100 were to be kept at the office overnight.

The court was told that end-of day reconciliation was the responsibility of the Executive Secretary who would then hand over the funds to other employees to be deposited.

Chetcuti Caruana had told the court that he had confronted his Executive Secretary, after receiving complaints about deposits that were not being effected into the Council’s account and had been assured the matter was in hand, but that there was a backlog due to the official's workload. 

But when the mayor had found the money inside a desk and safe at the Council offices, he had contacted the Department for Local Government and was advised to report the matter to the Police.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke observed that although the accused had been falling behind on making the deposits, these had always been made in time for the quarterly financial report  - which had been confirmed under oath by the accountant herself.

The accountant had also told the court that she had never come across any claim regarding missing funds or discrepancies in bank deposits while vetting of the Council’s accounts.

But the court, observed that the prosecution had produced no evidence of any claims of missed payments or shortfalls in deposits or anything to substantiate the former mayor's claim of a discrepancy of Lm10,000, much less that the sum had been used by the former council official for his own purposes.

Anastasi was acquitted of all charges on the basis of lack of evidence.

Lawyer Joseph Giglio was defence counsel.