Notary quits profession after being convicted of misappropriation

Disgraced Notary Pierre Falzon has been handed a suspended sentence after he was convicted of misappropriating money entrusted to him to settle tax and stamp duty payments.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech sentenced Falzon to 27 months in prison suspended for 40 months after finding him guilty of misappropriating just under €4,000 with which he was supposed to pay tax and stamp duty in connection with the sale of a garage in Santa Venera.

This is not Falzon's first such case. He had fled the Maltese islands to Spain in 2011 where he was arrested on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant and extradited to Malta. His lawyers had told the court at the time, that he had been repaying other alleged victims.

Emmanuel Buttigieg told the court that he had paid Notary Falzon €1,793 to register the purchase of a garage from his brother Jonathan. However, the contract of sale was never registered.

The Notary argued that he had been unable to register the sale because Emmanuel's brother Jonathan had failed to pay Capital Gains Tax.

However, the Court presided by Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech observed that this had been contradicted by the evidence submitted. Jonathan Buttigieg had paid no less than €1,285 in stamp duty.

The crime had been rendered more serious by the fact that it had been committed by a public officer, although the accused had told the court that he had renounced his warrant, because he had given up on his career.

In its decision, the court took into consideration the serious breach by a notary, who despite a legal obligation to safeguard his clients' rights, chose to mislead them. As proceedings against Falzon for the other similar offence have not yet been concluded, he was to be considered a first-time offender, said the court.

Falzon was handed a 3 year prison sentence, suspended for 40 months and given 2 years in which he is to repay the €3,865 he had taken from the Buttigieg brothers.