A former notary was handed a suspended sentence on Tuesday after being convicted of misappropriating clients' funds.

Philip Said, 68, was prosecuted after a number of clients discovered that contracts signed by them before the notary had never been registered with the relative government department.

Five of the clients had handed over money to the notary for the purpose of tax and duty payable on the relative causa mortis deeds and donations.

But years later, they discovered that the contracts had not been registered.

The notary was accused of misappropriation of funds and for failing in his duties as a public officer, committing an offence he was bound to prevent.

When releasing a statement to investigators and also when testifying in court, the former notary had explained how he had first been targeted in a scam which made it difficult for him to keep up with payments.

Trouble broke out with his clients and he had even landed in hot water with a retired judge who reviewed his notarial deeds, Said explained.

A garnishee order issued in favour of the VAT department further aggravated his position, since his overdraft was blocked and other accounts frozen making it impossible for him to register published deeds, paying the amounts due in tax and duty on documents.

His defence counsel argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the accused’s criminal intent and that everything stemmed from the notary’s financial difficulties sparked by the scam and bank decisions freezing his accounts.

However, on the basis of all evidence put forward, the court, presided over by magistrate Monica Vella observed that the scam had occurred in 2012 and the garnishee order had been issued the following year.

The notary had renounced his warrant in 2015.

The evidence showed that the notary had used the money to settle payments due on other contracts.

When clients asked why they had received no official receipt of registration, the notary would blame delays on government departments, rather than admit that the contracts had not been registered.

In all cases the misappropriation had been “amply proved,” said the court.

Years later the victims of the misappropriation had to fork out fresh sums to have their deeds registered, the court observed.

As a public officer and by way of his profession, the accused was bound to exercise a greater degree of diligence than the ordinary person, said the court, imposing a two-year jail term suspended for 4 years.

Inspector Doriette Cuschieri prosecuted.

Lawyer Malcolm Mifsud was defence counsel.