Imaginary Tunisia investment earns conman a prison sentence

A fraudster who conned an IT retailer out of thousands of Euro with false promises of investment in Tunisia has been jailed and ordered to refund his victim.

Simon Spiteri, 54, had been accused of having defrauded Rodney Testa out of around €10,000 in 2001.

Police inspector Maurice Curmi had explained to Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit how his investigations showed that Spiteri had convinced Testa, who owned an IT business, to invest in Tunisia, claiming to have high level contacts which included Ministers and top-ranking officials in the North African country.

The investor had handed the fraudster over €10,000 together with two top of the range laptops which he was supposed to show to prospective buyers in Tunisia. The accused had reported back saying orders were being made, but in spite of this, no business came Testa's way.

The sum total of Testa's return on investment in Spiteri's venture was a Rolex watch he received from the latter and which was later sold for €1,800.

After the promised business failed to materialise, the IT retailer had gone to the police.

Magistrate Stafrace Zammit also heard officials from the passports office testify that Spiteri had not travelled to Tunisia during the period in question.

The accused later admitted to owing the businessman “between €6000 and €7000” but insisted that he was unable to pay because he was going through a difficult time financially. The court observed, however, that this had not impacted Spiteri's spending on socialising.

Observing the accused's criminal record and having seen the evidence, the magistrate said she was more inclined to believe the parte civile.

“The accused is a person who can easily convince you to believe him when he says things that a normal person would perhaps not believe.”

The court dismissed Spiteri's arguments that it had been a simple commercial transaction that went wrong, or that part of the money was borrowed for the Rolex, saying these were all part of the accused's mise-en-scene.

The evidence was unequivocal and showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the accused had created an elaborate plot to get Testa to give him the money, held the court.

Spiteri was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and ordered to repay the remaining balance of €7100 within three years. The proceeds from the sale of the Rolex were deducted from the balance.