Serial fraudster swindles €1.2 million from his neighbours

50-year-old Joseph Francis Scerri of Birkirkara, a former clerical hardware technician who retired three years ago, was charged by Economic Crimes Unit Police for defrauding his neighbours out of €1.2 million.

Scerri, who was told off by Magistrate Carol Peralta as soon as he was brought before him, pleaded not guilty to having defrauded his elderly neighbours Paul, Emanuela and Joseph Schembri out of €1.2 million last July.

He allegedly told them that he was going to invest the money in what later transpired to be bogus property investments in the United States.

He was also charged with money laundering and falsification of documents.

While Magistrate Peralta told Scerri that it was shocking to see him back in the dock before him on more serious crimes, Scerri appeared passive, when he was told "you are causing a lot of harm to alot of people. You are taking away all their life savings."

Magistrate Peralta denied Scerri bail, stating that given the large amounts of money that the accused has allegedly defrauded, as well as the other pending cases, there was a serious risk of him absconding from the island.

The court also feared that Scerri would approach the victims, as he already did, by threatening them that should they report him, they would not see a cent back.

Other fraud

Joseph Francis Scerri -  who is currently being held under preventative custody at Corradino Prisons - was charged last for defrauding businessman Mario Gauci of Birkirkara out of €58,000, by falsifying his signatures on cheuqes belonging to him.

Scerri was also accused of defrauding Marcette Cefai, a clerk at HSBC Bank.

Cefai was fired from her job, losing all of her benefits three months before she was due to retire. During her 31 years of service with Mid-Med Bank and HSBC, Cefai was a witness to the heist committed in December 2007 on HSBC Bank branch in Balzan, in which €1 million were stolen.

The distraught woman, appeared before Magistrate Consuelo Scerri-Herrera last month, claiming through her lawyer Stefano Filletti, that she was left with nothing more than a letter from the bank which terminated her employment for having trusted Scerri, a former colleague, and cashing the cheques without knowing they were stolen.

Scerri, who appeared in court wearing shorts, claimed he did not have the means to pay a lawyer and was granted legal aid. He was also charged with falsification and misappropriation.

While the court was informed that Scerri remains under investigation in connection to other cases of fraud, he was denied bail, and was remanded once more to Corradino Prisons.