Police Commissioner says tax fugitive may have moved to US

Commissioner of Police Lawrence Cutajar appeared in court last week after being personally summoned to explain why the police had been unable to notify an elusive alleged tax-dodger for the past five years.

Peter Paul Muscat of Nadur Gozo is accused of failing to pay his contribution to his employees' National Insurance and FSS, but for the past half-decade, local authorities have been unsuccessful in their attempts at serving him with a notice of summons.

Last February, after the prosecution informed the court for the umpteenth time that Muscat could not be found, Magistrate Ian Farrugia had declared that unless the man was traced and produced for the next sitting, the Police Commissioner would have to answer for this in person.

"The order of the court is now clear; either the accused will appear for the next sitting on 9 May, 2018, or the Commissioner of Police will appear personally, to explain how Peter Paul Muscat allegedly cannot be traced on the little island that is Gozo," the magistrate had said.

Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar duly appeared before the court last Wednesday, explaining that the man had probably moved to the United States.

Cutajar explained that the Crime Intelligence Unit had been tasked to investigate the matter. Muscat’s name had been on the wanted list and the Malta Police Border Control List since 2014, on the basis of a warrant issued after he failed to pay a fine imposed by a court.

The Social Security Department and Jobsplus had no record of the man applying for social benefits or being registered as an employee or employer he said.

Commissioner Cutajar told the magistrate that Interpol had been contacted about the case and had replied in April, stating that “the subject matching in name and identifiers may possibly reside in the United States.”

It had been confirmed that a man with Muscat’s particulars could be living in Michigan, the Commissioner said.

This tallied with the account given by Muscat’s daughter, who had told the police that her father had gone to America and had never returned, the Commissioner went on, adding that police patrolling the areas where Muscat’s relatives lived had never had a sighting of the man himself.

The case continues.