Prosecutor hits out at ‘fishing expedition’ by lawyer charged with €230,000 fraud

Police Inspector Ian Abdilla from the Economic Crimes Unit called on Magistrate Saviour Demicoli to take note of what he described as a "fishing expedition" conducted by lawyer Patrick Spiteri, in a bid to further delay procedures in a case where he stands charged with misappropriating €230,000 from two businessmen.

In a note presented to court, contesting a list of witnesses which were presented by lawyer Chris Cardona who is appearing for Spiteri, Inspector Abdilla said that the police were strongly objecting to Spiteri's request to have the defrauded businessmen present their bank accounts to the court.

"We object to this absurd fishing expedition, which sole purpose is to simply delay further these long standing procedures," Inspector Abdilla told the Court.

The Inspector also objected to a long list of witnesses Spiteri presented to the court in his defence.

"While Spiteri's request to call witnesses from HSBC Bank and Bank of Valletta remains vague and without indicating any specific name or reason, we are objecting to the summoning of other witnesses who have no know addresses either in Malta or abroad," Abdilla said, adding that the case has been put off various times since 2010 and still awaits the defence to come up with witnesses.

The Prosecutor urged the court to take note and rule to move on to handing judgement if this delay continues.

While Spiteri was heard saying that his witnesses were "easily available in conference call," Magistrate Saviour Demicoli issued a decree, whereby he called on Spiteri to produce a list of "reasonably reachable" witnesses in his defence.

The Magistrate ruled that he wants the list by November 7, and commented that he will not have the case delayed any longer. He also said that he intends to hand judgement by the end of the year.

The case

Patrick Spiteri, 47 of St. Paul's Bay who was disbarred for previous convictions for fraud and falsification of documents, is charged with defrauding businessmen Josie Theuma and Mario Abela out of €230,000.

When he took the witness stand in June 2010, lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell had told an open court that Spiteri had come up with what he described as a "cock and bull story".

Tonna Lowell had contested Spiteri's version of events which led to his clients lose €230,000 they entrusted to the accused.

Spiteri had testified that he didn't know how to use a computer or even switch it on at the time of the alleged crime,  adding that he left all the computer work up to his secretary.

Spiteri was the managing director at Zimmerman House Group in Ta' Xbiex offering legal, investment and tax advice.

Injured party Josie Theuma said that in 2000 he had invested €95,530 through Patrick Spiteri and took his case to court in 2003 because he was still owed €59,892 of that money.

He said that Spiteri had offered him an attractive investment opportunity with Lehman Brothers and he decided to involve his friend Mario Abela who then invested €142,130. Theuma was told the investment would yield an interest of 18 per cent.

The men had wanted to invest most of their money in Maltacom GDRs (Global Depositary Receipts), but Spiteri advised them to first invest in Lehman Brothers and later invest in Maltacom.

He added that out of the €95,530 he had invested, he was repaid €35,637 while Abela was given back €34,029 of the €142,130 he had put in.

But Spiteri argued that at the time, large film productions such as Gladiator were coming to Malta and alleged vthat Theuma and Abela had set up a joint venture with him setting up a foreign exchange bureau.

The films, Spiteri said, involved people who needed large amounts of cash and needed it to be exchanged, and the bureau set up by Theuma and an Italian friend of his, Antonio Farrarou, exchanged cash for them.

Lawyer Steve Tonna Lowell confronted Dr Spiteri, saying the exchange bureau was a "cock and bull" story.

Spiteri denied the fabrication, insisting that the two men wanted the joint venture but refused to involve Abela because he had heard some unfavourable things about him.