Two police officers cleared of fraud charges linked to alleged overtime racket

Two traffic police officers accused of involvement in an alleged racket related to fraudulently claiming overtime, while working on the Marsa flyover project, have been cleared of all charges.

Police constables Anthony Dimech, 37, and Alexander Sellar, 45, were charged in July 2020, along with other traffic police officers, with complicity in the racket in which illicit financial gains were allegedly made at the expense of the police corps, Infrastructure Malta and/or Transport Malta.

Both Dimech and Sellar pleaded not guilty.

Two judgements handed down by Magistrate Rachel Montebello cleared both men of all charges, as the prosecution was unable to prove the fraud accusations.

The prosecution alleged that Dimech received €2,542.20 from January to December 2019 in extra duties while he was not present at work.

While Sellar was accused of receiving payments for two days in September 2019 and two days in October 2019, when he was not present at work.

The prosecution argued that WhatsApp chats reveal that Dimech and Sellar were coordinating with other police officers to be present on site, while Sellar was not, although they were getting paid for extra duties.

In both judgements, the court noted how the prosecution relied heavily on geolocation data taken from the accused's phones, arguing that these proved that neither officer was on site when they claimed “extra duties”.

Geolocation data and testimonies found that Dimech and Sellar were not always present at the site when they said they should have been.

However, the court said that proof of absence "does not constitute a deceptive act".

The prosecution also presented WhatsApp chats, arguing that these showed that the officers coordinated with other officers to cover for them.

From the WhatsApp chats, the court noted that no messages clearly showed that someone else was covering their shifts.

Beyond that, there was no evidence that either of them “lied to someone” to mask something false as legitimate.

There was also no fraudulent information on the signed time sheets.

“The prosecution failed to prove many elements related to fraud… and also failed to prove the accused's complicity in any fraudulent scheme,” both judgements read.

Defence lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Jacob Magri represented the accused.

Numerous police officers were charged after a whistleblower spoke up against several members of the corps who had been claiming overtime for jobs they never reported or carried out.

During construction work on the Marsa flyover project, Transport Malta had issued money for police extra duty to cover a triangular area from the former Malta Matches factory area in Marsa, up to tal-Barrani Road, Tarxien and the roundabout at Garibaldi Street, Marsa.

Two sergeants from the police traffic section, Matthew Azzopardi, 45 and Francis Larry Sciberras, 55, were acquitted of their charges last year.