Businessman granted bail after five months in preventive custody

A Maltese businessman who has been held in preventive custody since January, pending a definitive judgement on his extradition to Lithuania, has finally been granted bail by a constitutional court.

Angelo Frank Spiteri is the director of a Lithuanian-registered travel company Atostogu Sandelis, who is wanted to face fraud charges in Lithuania. He is the subject of a European Arrest Warrant in Lithuania, who along with two others, is accused of setting up “Atostogu sandèlis” (loosely translated as "Holiday Warehouse") in Vilnius – a false company which would convince its victims to sign accommodation agreements with certain hotels and after signing and receiving payment for this, would deliberately not provide the service which he had received payment for.

Spiteri has been fighting his extradition, and his possible committal to the fearsome Lithuanian prison system, ever since he was arrested in December 2015 on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant. Upon his arraignment, Spiteri had been granted bail, but this bail was automatically revoked as soon as the court of Magistrates upheld the extradition request in January. Persons who have been adjudged as being extraditable by the court of Magistrates, are precluded from being granted bail under the Extradition Act.

Last May, his lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Kris Busietta and Eve Borg Costanzi filed Constituional proceedings demanding both his immediate release on bail and compensation for the deprivation of his liberty.

In a judgement delivered this afternoon in the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, madame justice Lorraine Schembri Orland highlighted the difference between the facts of this case and other high profile extraditions, pointing out that Spiteri had not yet been found guilty in any jurisdiction. “... the court is of the opinion that in this case, no reason to deprive the applicant from enjoying a right granted to persons accused in Malta, whilst criminal proceedings against them are pending.”

The judge said she understood the risk of the accused absconding whilst on bail, but said that this could be mitigated by imposing strict enough bail conditions.

For this reason, the court granted Spiteri bail against strict conditions, under which he is to surrender his passport, observe a curfew and stay within the territory of the Maltese islands. His was also required to give a personal guarantee of €20,000 and deposit €5,000 as a bail bond in court.

The bail conditions will be reviewed every three months.