A Transport Malta official this morning testified that a grey BMW had been registered under the name of Neville Gafa in April 2015 and was still registered in his name up to the present day.

This information was disclosed by Stephen Cachia, the official testifying in the compilation of evidence against Syrian-born Khaled Ben Nasan, who is facing charges of fraud and extortion following his allegations that Mr Gafa had pocketed some €38,000 for medical visas which never materialized. These allegations were strongly denied by Mr Gafa under oath in a previous sitting.

During today's sitting, the court, presided over by Magistrate Doreen Clarke, heard how a search into the records of the Transport authority had confirmed that Mr Gafa had registered a grey BMW in his name in April 2015. O

Upon a request by defence lawyer Leslie Cuschieri, assisting Mr Ben Nasan, the court directed the transport official to conduct a fresh search by name rather than by vehicle registration number so as to determine whether Mr Gafa had any other BMW registered under his name.

In a previous sitting, Mr Gafa had been questioned by the defence about a BMW which he had purchased at the time of the alleged racket. The witness had pointed out that he had bought such a car in June 2014 but, following a collision in April 2015, he had made arrangements with a second-hand car dealer to replace the grey BMW with a black one rather than pay for the repairs.

The case continues.

Inspector Doriette Cuschieri prosecuted.

Lawyer Leslie Cuschieri was defence counsel.

Legal Procurator Peter Paul Zammit appeared parte civile.