Man cleared of falsifying cheques, fraud, after no handwriting experts appointed

Prosecutors will be filing an appeal after a man was cleared of falsifying cheques and other charges due to lack of evidence, the court having noted that no handwriting experts had been appointed or CCTV footage exhibited to sustain the charges.

42-year-old Joseph Azzopardi had been charged with 10 offences, including fraud, handling stolen goods, using false names and falsifying cheques and making unlawful gain to the detriment of Bank Of Valletta. He was also charged with breaching bail condition.

The case dates back to November 2015 when a man whose cheque was used had been contacted after the cheque was cashed on a false signature. The man had been confused when asked about his cheque book, saying he had used it a couple of days before, but had forgotten where he had put it.

The police had arrested Noel Micallef when he had tried to cash the cheque at a BOV branch in Marsa.

Micallef had explained to the police that the cheque had been passed on to him by the accused Joseph Azzopardi.

The €2,300 cheque had been cashed, with €300 of the money being divided by the accused and his brother.

Magistrate Joe Mifsud said that the prosecution had not succeeded in proving that the chequebook had been stolen, pointing to the owner’s confusion when he had been asked about the theft.

What had been proven was that the cheques had been cashed after a signature that was not that of the chequebook owner or his authorised representative.

Despite the prosecution having mentioned the appointment of a calligraphy expert during the man’s questioning, such an expert was never requested or appointed, leading to a “big shortcoming” in the judicial process, said the court.

In the absence of handwriting expert evidence, the allegedly falsified signatures could not be compared with that of Joseph Azzopardi. This would have been crucial evidence tying the accused to the case, said the court.

Having analysed the evidence before it, the court said it was not in a position to find Azzopardi guilty according to law. This despite it noting that he was almost certainly involved in some way, saying that this is not enough to find guilt.

The court said it could not find an answer to the question of why the accused went to the trouble of involving other people to cash stolen or misplaced cheques and expose himself anyway by going to the bank in person. Why were CCTV footage of the man trying to cash the cheque not collected or exhibited

Questions remained on who had Muscat’s chequebook and how the prosecution expected to find guilt on a thing not even reported as stolen, said the court. No CCTV footage was collected from the bank where the accused allegedly tried to cash the cheque.

The court said it had carefully examined the testimony of Noel and Roderick Micallef, who had admitted guilt when they were arraigned in connection with this case. “[the court] doesn’t feel that it can find Azzopardi guilty on the basis of this testimony and is therefore acquitting him.”

The prosecution gave notice of appeal.

Inspectors Elliot Magro and Robert Vella prosecuted.

Lawyer Edward Gatt appeared for the defence.