A man has been cleared of a string of offences revolving around a misplaced cheque book after “crucial evidence” linking him to the case was not produced by the prosecution.
Joseph Azzopardi, 42, was accused of handling stolen property, fraud and falsification, resulting in an unlawful gain to the detriment of a bank. He was also accused of breaching bail conditions.
The case dates back to 2015 when the cheque book owner had been alerted that one of his cheques had been cashed, presumably under a false signature.
The beneficiary was arrested at the BOV Marsa branch, telling the police how he had received the cheque from the accused and had shared part of the proceeds with his brother.
The two brothers had in fact undergone separate proceedings.
The court, presided over by magistrate Joseph Mifsud, observed that in this case, the prosecution had committed “a fatal flaw,” by failing to request the appointment of a calligraphic expert to prove the accused’s has signed the cashed cheques.
“This crucial proof would have served as scientific evidence tying the accused to the case,” the court observed.
The prosecution had not even proved that the missing cheque book had actually been stolen, said the court. According to the police the man whose cheque book had gone missing was “very confused” when asked about the matter and could only recollect he had used it two days before, without being able to say where he might have placed it, the court said.
In this respect the evidence put forward left many unanswered questions, the court held.
Though the defendant might have been somehow involved in the case, declaring him guilty on the basis of such evidence would have resulted in an “unsafe and unsatisfactory” judgment, the Magistrate said. Moreover, the court also noted that the prosecution failed to collect CCTV footage from the bank and that no report about the ‘stolen’ cheque book was ever filed, the court said.
In the light of such lack of evidence, the court cleared the accused.
Meanwhile, the prosecution gave notice of appeal.
Lawyer Edward Gatt was defence counsel.