Councillors charged defrauding EU ask for proceedings to be over by March elections

Lawyer Emmanuel Mallia asked Magistrate Edwina Grima for the court to call on the police to close their case and pass on to the defence present its evidence in a bid to speed up the process and have the matter closed before next March local council elections.

The councillors, who are all pleading not guilty to fraud and committing a crime they were in duty bound to prevent are: the vice mayor of Birkirkara, Doris Borg, 76, of Birkirkara; the former mayor of Mellieħa, Joseph Borg, 71, from Mellieħa; the former mayor of San Lawrenz, Noel Formosa, 39, of San Lawrenz; the executive secretary of the Fgura local council and former secretary of the LCA, Oreste Alessandro, 63, of Fgura; the president of the LCA and head of the Maltese delegation to the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Michael Cohen, 54, of Kalkara; Qrendi local councillor and LCA member, Claudette Abela Baldacchino, 38, of Qrendi and former LCA president and Ġzira local councillor, lawyer Ian Micallef, 42, of Ġzira.

OLAF investigation

They were accused in the wake of an investigation led by the EU's anti-fraud office, which found discrepancies in a large number of airline tickets which allegedly fully reimbursed by the EU, but were actually sold for cheaper.

was sought for all cost the same.

In a previous sitting, the court heard that tickets were issued by KD Travel Services Limited to the Local Council Association and to its members who also had private accounts with the same travel agency.

Police Inspector Ivan Cilia explained that the sum reimbursed totalled about €96,000. Hand-written invoices were issued, quoting one fare followed by a computer-printed amount that was markedly lower. For example, one ticket was marked as costing €599 when it was bought for only €446.

The accused would then claim back from the EU the full amount instead of the actual purchase price, pocketing the difference. In some cases, the difference was accredited to the association's account and in others directly to the members.

The director of KD Travel Services Limited, Kenneth DeMartino, 51, of Swieqi, and the company's general manager, Paul Cortis, 56, of Naxxar are also pleading not guilty to fraud.

Evidence

The discrepancies surfaced as a result of parallel invoicing, investigating officer Neil Thomson, from OLAF told the court.

The investigations focused on the period between February 2004 and February 2007. A number of documents were seized from the offices of the LCA and the travel agency. These included sales and purchasing ledgers, accounts, bank statements and e-mails.

Lufthansa

The court also heard evidence by a Lufthansa representative who said that the carrier issues tickets in Business and Economy Class.

He didn't reply however to a question made to him by lawyer Emanuel Mallia that the airline has various tiers of pricing for business class travel.

While presenting the court with many travel documents related to the case, the Lufthansa representative insisted that any other detailed questions had to be replied from the airline's headquarters in Frankfurt.

The case continues.