A disgraced notary already convicted of misappropriating clients’ funds has been sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of complicity in fraud. A developer who sold a penthouse that was not his was handed a suspended jail term.
Pierre Falzon, 61, who voluntarily renounced his warrant in 2012, and Peter Agius, 51, from Naxxar, were convicted of deceitfully selling a Paola property that had already been used by HSBC Bank Malta plc as a guarantee against a pending loan.
Falzon was found guilty of forging public documents in May 2009 and earlier and of using a forged document.
Magistrate Rachel Montebello also suspended his notarial warrant for five years and slapped him with a general interdiction. Falzon has given notice of appeal.
The case concerned the sale of a property in December 2007, on which a profit of €86,186 was made to the detriment of Geot Developments Limited and Mary Violet Mifsud.
Agius was found guilty of defrauding the company and of assisting Falzon in this deception. He was given a 20-month prison sentence suspended for four years.
Magistrate Montebello heard that Falzon published a contract in which Agius sold a penthouse in Paola to Mifsud.
The place had been hit by a special mortgage in favour of HSBC but, in the sales contract, it was described as being transferred free and unencumbered.
The property was then mortgaged by Mifsud in favour of Terranova Properties Limited, with the amount to be paid being €65,000.
It turned out that HSBC Bank never gave its consent to the reduction of its mortgage rights.
It was Notary Elena Farrugia, acting on behalf of Terranova, who discovered the mishap during archive searches.
The magistrate noted that Agius knew he had no right to sell the apartments or garages, developed in a partnership between himself and the company Geot Developments Limited. She said Agius deceived Geot Developments and Mifsud when he appeared for the sale of the penthouse and gave false information about his representative capacity.
The court said that Mifsud had been tricked into entering into a contract with a person who was not authorised to sell the penthouse.
Falzon was an accomplice because he made false statements on the contract and had authenticated a photocopy of a company board resolution without checking its authenticity.
Police Inspector Rennie Stivala was the case prosecutor.
Falzon has multiple convictions over misappropriation of funds meant for the state coffers in respect of deeds he published. Some are still at appeals stage.