Domestic violence report leads to money laundering charges

Carado Dinaro, a 31-year-old Sicilian man and Elena Gulia, 32, both residing at Kalkara have been remanded in custody on charges of money laundering and cannabis possession, after absconding to Italy whilst on police bail. 
 
Gulia alone was also accused of fraud and misappropriating some €208,000 from Tipico Service Limited. She was further accused of revealing company security information and heroin possession, while Dinaro was also accused of handling stolen goods. 

The pair are denying the charges. 
 
In court, the prosecution, led by lawyer Francesco Refalo from the AG and Inspector Clare Borg for the Commissioner of Police, explained how on 22 February, Gulia had gone to file a domestic violence report against Dinaro. There, she had revealed that she had misappropriated between €120,000 and €130,000 from the company. She had been released on police bail until further investigations could be completed. 

It was found that she had taken around €208,000, of which €157,000 were found in her account, whilst €59,000 were in an account belonging to Dinaro. 

The prosecution told the court how on March 1, while on police bail, Gulia and Dinaro had gone abroad without permission, travelling to Sicily and then to Milan. The two accused were arrested upon their return to Malta on Tuesday. 
 
Defence counsel, lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace, requested bail for the accused. This request was opposed by the prosecution who pointed out that the accused had family ties to Sicily and no ties to Malta. A number of witnesses were yet to testify, the court was told and there was a fear that they would be suborned. Their previous abscission meant that there was no reassurance that they would observe bail conditions if granted. 
 
The court denied the request made by Tipico’s lawyer, Roberta Bonello Felice, for a ban on publication of the company’s name as none of the circumstances required at law for such a ban to be imposed existed. 
 
Micallef Stafrace objected to the freezing order, saying he couldn’t see where the money laundering figured in the crime. It had become a practise to include money laundering in everything, commented the lawyer. 
 
The accused had no access to Tipico’s assets today, he said. “We are talking about two unemployed people who might or might not have made a mistake. Who is the freezing order going to help here?” 
 
Magistrate Charmaine Galea, however, upheld the request for the freezing order and prohibited the accused from disposing of any movable or immovable property belonging to them. It seized and placed into the hands of third parties all of their assets bar the sum of €13,976 annually.