Court removes confiscation order on fraudster's property, says it was not bought with illicit funds

The First Hall of the Civil Court has ordered the release of all property, except for a car, that was seized from a Marsaxlokk man convicted of bribery and defrauding a government department, on the grounds that they were not tainted by his criminal dealings and that he had already refunded the amounts illicitly obtained.

In 2014, 61-year-old Francis Caruana was charged with money laundering, extortion, misappropriation and fraud to the detriment of the Fisheries department, after discrepancies were flagged up during internal audits.

Fisheries officials were entitled to a commission on fees payable to the department upon the release of imported fish. The commission was paid upon the submission of release forms signed in relation to inspections carried out after office hours. 

It was alleged that Caruana had earned nearly €32,000 but failed to declare the funds he had received through his nominal fee entitlement on his annual tax returns. The money was later refunded by the official.

He had been jailed for 4 years, which sentence was later reduced to probation on appeal. Caruana filed a civil case for the release of his property, arguing that it was demonstrably not bought using the proceeds of crime.

In her judgment in the civil case, Madam Justice Miriam Hayman ordered the release of his property, including his bank accounts, a house in Marsaxlokk and an apartment in Gozo, concluding that their provenance was legitimate.

When Caruana had admitted to the charges in May last year, his lawyers, Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri had submitted that essentially, 95% of the misappropriated money had been outstanding to Caruana in respect of overtime and his disturbance allowance.

But that court also heard former Fisheries Director Andreina Fenech Farrugia explain that Caruana had simply taken the funds himself instead of applying to his superiors for payment in respect of inspections carried out after office hours.

The accused later filed a guilty plea and refunded the amounts calculated to have been payable to the department, the court had noted.

In his case to have the confiscation orders lifted, Caruana’s lawyers, Franco Debono and Marion Camilleri had argued that the order should have only covered the amount allegedly defrauded and as the man had refunded the money, the freezing of the entirety of his wealth was unjust.

The judge, after having seen the deposits made to his accounts, observed that these were too sporadic and infrequent to convince the court that they were the proceeds of the man’s crimes.

However it noted that the man’s Toyota Yaris had been purchased in the months before January 2014, and therefore during the period in which the crimes were committed. The accused had only proven that some of the money used to purchase the vehicle was coming from licit sources, with the court pointing out that the entire amount had to be proven to be sourced legitimately. The fact that the vehicle had been paid for as a lump sum, and not in installments increased the court’s doubts about the provenance of the funds used.

As a result, the court denied the request for the vehicle’s release.