Two suspect fraudsters, arrested four years ago and convicted of planning to carry out ATM fraud during a stay in Malta, had their jail terms slashed on appeal.

Kitanchev Blagoy Zhorov, a self-employed businessman and Polihronov Spas Georgiev, both Bulgarian nationals, had been arrested in December 2017 after they had their apartment searched by police acting upon information from Europol.

The duo was allegedly linked to skimming attacks in their homeland and had also been arrested in Vietnam in 2013.

Police believed that the men were planning to travel by catamaran to Sicily to proceed to Naples where they were allegedly focusing further ‘attacks.’

However, investigators found no tickets to Sicily when searching the apartment. Instead, they found that the duo had checked in on a return flight.

Police also found two metal pieces suspected to be tools for ATM deep insert skimming.

But Blagoy insisted that he had borrowed that luggage from a friend and had nothing to do with those two thin metal strips. 

A hard disk with video footage of ATMs keypad showing customers inputting a PIN code was found in possession of Spas who likewise denied any criminal wrongdoing. 

Both suspects were prosecuted for belonging to a criminal organisation and as co-conspirators, while Blagoy was separately charged with being in possession of tools allegedly linked to ATM fraud.

Upon conviction in November 2019, Blagoy was handed a six-year jail term while Spas got a jail term of five years, besides a total fine of €3,101.91.

However, the Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Giovanni Grixti, observed that the prosecution had failed to prove, “even remotely” that the appellants were co-conspirators and belonging to a criminal organisation. 

Europol had been silent in this regard and the men’s criminal records issued by Bulgarian authorities did not corroborate the alleged convictions in their homeland. 

However, the Court was not at all convinced about Blagoy’s excuse that the metal skimmers had ended up in a bag he borrowed from a friend. 

A self-employed businessman and car dealer who claimed to travel frequently would have bought luggage rather than borrowed one, observed the court, thus finding Blagoy guilty of possession of the illicit tools and condemning him to a two-year jail term. 

Lawyers Shazoo Ghaznavi, Charlon Gouder and Ramona Attard were defence counsel.