Disbarred lawyer Patrick Spiteri has been acquitted of misappropriating some €51,000 in VAT refunds from a film-production company in a case dating back to 2003. 

Italian national Luigi Riitano had approached the lawyer in 2001, proposing a joint venture to attract film business to Malta. 

Dolphin Film Productions Limited was set up and was subsequently engaged by foreign company Once Upon a Time Films to handle the setting and extras for “The Terrible Hours”, one of the productions shot in Malta. 

Funds covering relative costs were to be deposited in the account of the local company and in terms of an agreement between the two companies, once filming was over, that account was to be closed and any VAT refunds due were to be paid to Once Upon a Time Films. 

An accountant was engaged by Riitano to fill in the relative VAT return which was to be signed by Spiteri’s brother, since the company was registered in his name. 

Yet when some months later, the accountant and Riitano asked for an update on that claim, they were informed that the claim had been processed within two days, the relative cheques issued and deposited in the account of Dolphin Film Productions. 

The funds had been withdrawn and the account closed. 

When Spiteri was confronted about the matter, he had claimed that as majority shareholder, he was entitled to those funds which he needed to settle some outstanding payments. 

A police report was then lodged by Riitano who was subsequently granted a power of attorney to represent the foreign-registered film production company in Malta. 

Criminal action was instituted against the lawyer, with the case being assigned to seven different magistrates over the years, until it finally landed before Magistrate Victor George Axiaq last year. 

When delivering judgment, the court observed that the prosecution had a difficult task in proving its case, not only because of various delaying factors but also since the “star witness”, Riitano, had not returned to face cross-examination. 

His testimony had thus been declared inadmissible. 

However, the court remarked that even if that testimony had been allowed, the prosecution would still have been unable to prove its case. 

Indeed, the prosecution had not proved the requisites of the crime of misappropriation, since the VAT refund had been issued to Dolphin Film Productions, although Spiteri had withdrawn the money from the bank. 

Moreover, this was a VAT refund to be settled on the basis of an agreement between the parties concerned.

If anything, it was a civil issue to be addressed before the civil courts “and nowhere else,” declared the court, thus acquitting Spiteri of all criminal liability.

Lawyer Stefano Filletti was defence counsel.

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