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Performer admits to €1.2 million fraud
A known performer, whose name cannot be revealed until sentencing, has admitted to defrauding a farmer of €1.2 million.
4 October 2012, 12:00am
Karl Stagno-Navarra
Karl Stagno-Navarra
1 min read
The performer said he would return the money after signing a contract with Sony Music Records.
Magistrate Antonio Vella heard the performer register a guilty plea, despite the offence carrying a maximum penalty of nine years in jail.
The performer - whose name cannot be reported by court order given that the accused had informed the court when arraigned that he was about to sign an important contract with Sony Music and would then be in a position to pay back the monies - had to revert to legal aid lawyer Cedric Mifsud, after his previous lawyers renounced his defence.
The man, who will be sentenced in two weeks' time, is already serving multiple prison sentences for fraud and still has cases pending before the courts. He remains in prison.
Some have commented that the fact that the performer's name was banned by court order, had led the accused to defraud other people, who were in the dark about his first serious arraignment.
The performer admitted to swindling €1.2 million from a farmer in Gozo, after telling him that he had the contacts and the know-how to get him access to plenty of EU funds.
Over a period of months, the performer had convinced the farmer to hand him over various sums of money to cover costs of negotiations with the EU and other expenses.
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@tarcisio.....naqbel mieghek imma xi kultant ma nemminhomx dawn l-istejjer ghax naqa goffi biex temminhom.
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li Bidwi johrog 1.2M jfisser li id dar ghandu 5 ohra. u jien qadt nistudja u nigradwa biex naghmel xoghol ta skrivan !!!
Imma is sabiha li il qorti tiproteggi lil dan il frodist!!!! assulatement ma naqbilix.
ghalekemm ghandi suspett f kantant.....
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1.2 million EUR ? That's a lot of potatoes.
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A farmer with 1.2 Million - whose name we need to keep secret. You that that most of our MEPs are registered as farmers. This whole story stinks to high heaven.
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He is defrauding the Law Courts and turning them into a luna park. How can we all fall for something like this?
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I wonder if this fraudster mentioned "bribery" to his victims. You know, just to make it sound and seem realistic.
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A farmer defrauded of €1.2 million,how many would see that amount of money in a lifetime? Then you get farmers on TV complaining about the price of their produce, won't believve them any more. Shouldn't the farmer in this case also face justice, looks like a clear case of defrauding the EU.
Mark Fenech •
Xi kultant l-anqas nemmen li hawn nies daqshekk ċwieċ f'dan il-pajjiż, jafdaw nies probabbilment li qatt ma rawhom b'għajnejhom qabel, imbagħad ma aħniex nitkellmu fuq somma żgħira għax sehem forsi wieħed jifihma, imma din somma kbira ħafna.
