Suspended sentence for company director charged with fraud

A company director has been handed a suspended sentence after he admitted to charges of having defrauded four individuals, one of whom is believed to be his landlord.

43-year-old Benjamin Zammit Tabona from Sliema appeared in the dock before magistrate Josette Demicoli this afternoon to face charges of fraud and making fraudulent gain.

No details of the circumstances surrounding the charges emerged in court this afternoon, after Zammit Tabona’s defence counsel, lawyer Peter Fenech and prosecuting police inspector Jonathan Ransley approached the bench to discuss the case with the magistrate, out of earshot of the press.

Last November, judge Lorraine Schembri Orland, presiding the First Hall of the Civil Court, had abstained from taking a decision on a case filed by one of the injured parties in which it was requested that Zammit Tabona be evicted from a rented flat on Tower Road after he had failed to quit the premises following the lapse of the lease agreement.

That court had ordered that the case continue before the Rent Regulation Board, due to changes in the law which had rendered it competent to decide the issue.

In court this afternoon, Zammit Tabona pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

The court also placed him under a supervision and treatment order for that period.