Man fined for obstructing seizure of goods

A man was yesterday fined Lm500 by the Magistrates Court after it was established that he had acted in contempt of court.

This judgment was delivered by Magistrate Silvio Meli in the case filed by the Registrar of Courts against Joseph Balzan and against Dambal Caterers Limited.

The Registrar claimed that defendants had acted in contempt of court on December 5, 2002, at Timeo Restaurant, Marsascala, when they had obstructed the seizure of goods listed in a warrant of seizure against them.

Magistrate Meli noted that on July 18, 2002, a court marshall had been ordered to serve a warrant of seizure at the request of Steven Agius against Dambal Caterers Limited.

Joseph Balzan had been present when the marshall arrived at the restaurant to list the items that were subject to the warrant.

Following a request by Mr Agius for the items to be physically removed from the restaurant, the marshall had once again gone there, but was informed by Mr Balzan that the restaurant was no longer his and that he would not permit the elevation of the items to take place.

The marshall told the court that Mr Balzan had effectively impeded him from carrying out his duties. Mr Agius requested the court to take action against Mr Balzan and the company for contempt of court.

In its judgment the court noted that no criminal action could be taken against a company, and that therefore the action against Dambal Caterers Limited ought not to have been filed.

With reference to Mr Balzan the court noted that he had indeed obstructed the enforcement of the warrant, and that this constituted contempt of court. The fact that Mr Agius had revoked the warrant was irrelevant, as this had occurred at a stage far after the obstruction by Mr Balzan.

The court therefore ordered Mr Balzan to pay a fine of Lm500 and ordered that in the event that the fine was not paid it would be converted to imprisonment at the rate of Lm5 per day.