Ex-Notary gets suspended sentence for misappropriation

A former notary has been handed a suspended sentence and ordered to refund clients who never received the services they had paid him for.

Notary Pierre Falzon was accused of misappropriating monies entrusted to him to register a number of declarations relating to deaths.

Falzon had handed in his warrant in 2016 in the wake of similar charges.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera was told how number of clients had approached the notary to make declarations of causa mortis, which lists assets of deceased for succession purposes. These clients had paid the notary for his services. Circumstances impeded the accused from registering the declarations, leading to some of them being registered late, or not at all.

Only some of the notary’s clients were refunded the money they had paid, others received nothing.

Falzon was primarily accused of misappropriation, which the court, after consulting with the writings of influential legal scholars and previous court judgments, said was “nothing more than an abuse of trust through which someone renders a profit from something that was freely entrusted to him.”

The defence had argued that the accused lacked the criminal intent required for the crime as he had intended to pass on the funds to the Authorities but needed more time to do so as he found himself in financial difficulty, as his bank accounts had been garnisheed.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard several prosecution witnesses testify to having passed on various sums of money to the accused for the registration of causa mortis declarations, but that the notary had failed to do so in the proper time.

The charges of misappropriation were aggravated by the fact that Falzon was entrusted with the money due to his profession, held the court, adding that the charges of committing a crime as a public official were also proven.

In its considerations on punishment, the court took into account the fact that a notary who is obliged to safeguard the rights of persons who require his services had ended up deceiving and harming precisely those persons.

Falzon was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, suspended for four years and ordered to refund a total of €12,805 to the injured parties within six months. A perpetual general interdiction was also imposed.