A former gaming company employee who allegedly misappropriated around €76,000 while on a night shift four months ago, was granted bail upon arraignment on Thursday.
Prosecutors explained that the company had reported the suspected misappropriation on June 26, pointing its fingers at one of its employees, Mehmet Erhen, a 37-year-old Turkish national.
It was claimed that during a night shift, the suspect transferred funds from a company account into two third-party accounts.
He allegedly reactivated the formerly closed accounts and channelled some €76,000 into those accounts for no plausible reason, his former bosses claimed.
The police were initially unable to track down Erhen since he had left the country. But he was then located in Turkey and an alert was issued on the Schengen Information System.
The suspect returned to Malta on Wednesday and was promptly arrested. He was carrying €7250 in cash inside his luggage.
On arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to money laundering, misappropriation, unauthorised computer use, as well as tampering with computer data.
Defence lawyer Roberto Spiteri asked whether the company had provided investigators with information about the suspicious transactions and the trail leading to the defendant.
The prosecution explained that company logs showed who was logging into the account.
All movements were linked to the same IP address connected to the defendant.
A request for bail was objected to, with the prosecution arguing that if Erhen was to abscond and travel to a non-Schengen country, it could prove difficult to trace him.
Moreover, he had allegedly admitted to “money issues,” having hinted to police that third parties were chasing him for unsettled gambling debts.
Furthermore, he posed a “flight risk” and could also possibly tamper with evidence by contacting his former colleagues at the company to alter data on the company’s servers.
Defence lawyer Roberto Spiteri rebutted that the documentary trail could not be tampered with. And since Erhen's employment had been terminated, there was no way he could access the company’s data.
He had been living in Malta for several years and had a fixed address. Moreover, his former bosses had since filed civil proceedings against him.
The company “made him aware of those proceedings…they also emailed him to say that they were escalating matters.” Nonetheless, he still came back to Malta voluntarily, argued the lawyer.
That was only because he was not aware that criminal action would be taken against him, retorted the prosecutor.
Magistrate Jean Paul Grech, upheld the request for bail, ordering the defendant to sign the bail book daily, to abide by a curfew between 8pm and 7am, deposit €4000 and under personal guarantee of €16,000, forfeitable if he breached any bail conditions.
He was also warned not to leave Malta or approach prosecution witnesses.
The court also issued a freeze and seize order over the defendant’s assets to the tune of €76,183 while authorizing him to an annual allowance of €21,945.
AG lawyers Alessia Schembri and Marica Ciantar prosecuted together with Inspectors Clive Abela and Jean Claude Mangion. Lawyer Roberto Spiteri was defence counsel.