A woman who landed under a money laundering probe after filing a domestic violence report, was remanded in custody together with her partner on Wednesday.

Elena Gulia, 32 and Carado Dinaro, 31 of Kalkara, were arrested upon their return to Malta after travelled to Sicily on March 1 and subsequently to Milan, in breach of conditions imposed upon them under police bail.

Days earlier, on February 22, the woman had filed a police report about an alleged incident of domestic violence against Dinaro.

That was when she allegedly revealed that she had misappropriated funds from her employer, an iGaming company.

The woman was released under police bail while investigations continued, allegedly tracking some €157,000 deposited in her account with a further €59,000 in her partner’s account.

The couple were arrested upon their return to Malta on Tuesday and escorted to court on Wednesday, charged with money laundering.

The woman was separately charged with misappropriation and fraud, security breaches as well as drug possession.

Her partner was separately charged with handling stolen property.

They both pleaded not guilty.

A request for bail was objected to by the prosecution in view of the fact that the accused had no ties in Malta and civilian witnesses were still to testify.

Moreover, they were not deemed trustworthy, given that they had travelled out of Malta while under police bail.

A freezing order requested by the prosecution was objected to by defence lawyer Simon Micallef Stafrace who argued that the circumstances did not appear to amount to money laundering which always appeared to be included among the charges.

However the court, presided over by magistrate Charmaine Galea, imposed the freezing order on all assets, both movable and immovable of the couple, while denying their request for bail.

Lawyer Francesco Refalo from the AG’s Office and Inspector Clare Borg prosecuted.

Lawyer Roberta Bonello Felice represented the company.