Man cleared of stealing €7,000 of products from food importer

57-year-old George Lanzon from Mosta has been found not guilty of stealing €7,000 worth of food products and handling stolen goods as part of an inside job on a food importer.

Lanzon had been arrested in 2015 after Valhmor Borg Import Export Ltd filed a police report, suspecting employees and clients had been collaborating to steal products from them. This after discrepancies in the stock and CCTV footage were examined.

The footage showed clients taking a considerable amount of goods but the till’s “Z-reading” showed far smaller amounts as having been paid for.

Lanzon had been seen to have gone 8 times, taking products and not paying for them. He had been handed the items by an employee who had later admitted to the police that the two had an agreement whereby Lanzon would pay just half the value of the items.

In time the amounts involved reached almost €7,000, the court heard.

Lanzon had told the court that he had receipts for his purchases but that he wouldn’t check them as long as the amount he paid tallied with it.

Magistrate Nadine Lia said that the prosecution had not clearly shown that the accused had been told the products were stolen and hence the low prices. It was not therefore proven that the accused had been stealing from Valhmor Borg.

Defence lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili argued that the evidence could not be considered as safe and satisfactory in view of what they referred to as the “vague assumptions” made by the employee in his testimony. Moreover, the prosecution had not summoned witnesses who could corroborate the employee’s testimony, they said.

The court said that reasonable doubt remained about the formal elements of the crimes with which the accused was charged. There was insufficiently clear and direct evidence for the court to establish guilt, it said.

Lanzon was cleared of all charges.