Hawker accused of €873,491 fraud

Glenn Debattista, 49, a Valletta hawker, this morning pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding Michael Debono Ltd of €873,491 in August of 2003 when he purchased 55 Toyota vehicles and nine Perodua vans. The court heard the prosecution claim that...

Glenn Debattista, 49, a Valletta hawker, this morning pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding Michael Debono Ltd of €873,491 in August of 2003 when he purchased 55 Toyota vehicles and nine Perodua vans.

The court heard the prosecution claim that Mr Debattista had pretended to be Raymond Cortis and had thus signed the vehicle contracts. The accused had bought a car rental company from Mr Cortis but the permit for the company to continue to rent out cars had not yet been transferred.

Mr Debattista, however, had gone ahead with buying the vehicles in Mr Cortis’s name and had used a copy of his ID card.

Mr Debattista was granted bail against a personal guarantee of €50,000.

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