Two former business associates of Yorgen Fenech were granted bail one week after being arraigned together with the businessman and a father-and-son duo over allegations of money laundering at a gaming company.
Glimmer Ltd’s chief operating officer Patrick Demanuele, 44, and company director Anthony Farrugia, 36, are pleading not guilty to involvement in the ‘system’ of fictitious wagers which landed them under arrest last week, where they face charges of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.
The two company officials were remanded in custody following a succession of arraignments involving their former boss as well as Nicholas Cachia, 46, and his father Joseph Cachia, 67. They were all linked by investigators through a series of WhatsApp chats extracted from Fenech’s mobile phone.
At the first hearing of the case against Demanuele and Farrugia on Tuesday, investigating inspector Brian Camilleri outlined the suspicious "system" whereby a €200 deposit by Nicholas Cachia in his Portomaso live gaming account allegedly yielded bonuses of €26,000, of which only €5,000 were subsequently transferred to his bank account.
A plan for fictitious credit
The chats appeared to indicate a plan for fictitious credit, said inspector Camilleri when facing cross examination by defence lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell who pointed out that both accused had refused to green light a second €5,000 transaction into Cachia’s account.
That transaction was not deemed commercially viable for Glimmer Ltd since Cachia was not actually placing bets and on those grounds, both accused had not given their go-ahead for the transfer of funds into the player’s bank account.
During police questioning, Farrugia had explained that the deposits were intended to “test the system” after Glimmer Ltd sought to entice Cachia who had been flagged as a high-value player.
That was the reason given to police for depositing €26,000 in Cachia’s online gaming account.
“A test could be conducted even simply with €1,” remarked the inspector.
Under further questioning, Camilleri confirmed that investigations appeared to point that Demanuele and Farrugia made no personal gains.
Tuesday’s hearing came to an end with submissions on bail following objections by the AG on grounds of the “very serious” nature of the charges, the early stage of proceedings and the fact the persons charged were now no longer suspects but accused.
That final objection drew a sarcastic comment by Tonna Lowell who described it as the “new fairy tale” promoted by the AG who cited the change of status from 'suspect' to 'accused' as further cause to fear the risk of absconding.
The 'irony' of Theuma's relatives' summons
The charges against Demanuele and Farrugia “had nothing to do” with those against the other persons facing prosecution before a different magistrate, argued Tonna Lowell.
Moreover it was somewhat ironic that Melvin Theuma’s relatives were charged under summons over allegations of money laundering totaling some €700,000 while Demanuele and Farrugia had been charged under arrest.
“Where is the gravity in this case over €4,800? God forbid if we didn’t have the safeguard of the courts!”exclaimed the lawyer.
The court, presided over by magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, upheld the request for bail against a deposit of €10,000, a personal guarantee of €15,000 each, twice weekly signing of the bail book and other conditions including a prohibition of approaching prosecution witnesses.
Attorney General lawyers Cinzia Azzopardi Alamango and Marthese Grech assisted Inspector Camilleri.