Mintoff 'biographer' cleared of fraud

Dom Mintoff aficionado and unofficial biographer of the former premier, Josef Grech, has been cleared of fraud charges relating to cheques he had issued from a closed account.

Police Inspector Maurice Curmi had charged the 34-year-old founder of the Dom Mintoff Foundation, with defrauding Go Plc out of over €5,500 December 2010 and January 2011 when he had bought mobile phones and top-up cards using a chequebook belonging to the Lourdes Philharmonic Society of Paola, the committee of which he was a member. 

The cheques were dishonoured, however, as the relevant bank account had been closed.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino had argued that Grech was not the only person on the band club's committee and neither was he the treasurer. Rather, he had been instructed to purchase the items, which were to be given out as prizes in a fund-raising lottery using the cheque book.

Magistrate Peralta acquitted the accused of the charges.

Grech is currently appealing against another 20-month sentence handed to him last April after he and another man had been found guilty of defrauding musicians who were hired on behalf of the Lourdes Philharmonic Society in 2010.

In that case, Grech and co-accused Omar Caruana, who were both members of the club’s committee, had paid musicians using cheques from an account that had been closed. Caruana had been jailed for a year while Grech had eight months added to a previous eight-month suspended sentence which he had been handed in 2010.

The appeal is still pending.