Detained German businessman accuses police of missing key evidence

A court has denied bail to a German man who appeared before it this morning, charged with committing a €24,000 fraud.

Businessman Arne Wolfgang Schmidt, 45, who runs a travel agency in Malta, was arraigned by Police Inspectors Matthew Vella and Christabel Chetcuti on fraud charges. 

He pleaded not guilty, instead claiming that the supposed victim was the person who should be in the dock.

Schmidt’s lawyer Arthur Azzopardi told Magistrate Gabriella Vella that the man who had filed the criminal complaint that started criminal proceedings against his client was the fraudster. He is claiming to have given money to Schmidt, but none had in fact been given. 

The complaint, filed by a certain Paul Zammit, claims that Zammit had paid the German businessman €24,000 as part of a business deal. Schmidt, however maintains that no money ever changed hands.

Azzopardi accused police investigators of overlooking a "blatantly forged" bank document relating to the transfer by the alleged victim. The lawyer added out that apart from this, the account details on the document do not even belong to Schmidt. 

Bail was however denied by the court on the grounds that the accused did not provide it with a fixed residential address, having given the court the address of his Swatar office instead.

The court was also not reassured that the man did not plan on absconding by the fact that the man had not handed in his passport, which he said he had left in Germany.