A young mother who stands accused of involvement in money-laundering, misappropriation and fraud, was granted bail on Wednesday after having been held in detention awaiting trial for the past month.

Marianna Petropoliac, a Russian national with a Maltese passport, was arraigned on April 25 alongside her husband, Vladimir Petropoliac.

An application for bail had been objected to by the Attorney General, citing the absence of tangible ties to Malta, the risk of absconding, the seriousness of the alleged offences and the fact that a number of civilian witnesses were still to testify.

However, Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera rejected  those objections, saying that pre-trial detention should be the exception and that the “reasonableness” of a person’s continued detention was to be assessed in each case according to its special features. 

The judge noted that contrary to what the AG had argued, this accused was a Maltese citizen as were her parents, who owned property in Malta. Even her child has a Maltese passport, the court observed, saying that, therefore, that it was not correct to allege that the woman had no ties in Malta.

As for the fear of absconding, the AG had made no reference to any “real or effective reason” as to why it was held that the woman could abscond “more than any other individual facing a criminal charge.”

The court also rejected the objection on the grounds of this being a serious offence since it involved €150,000, “a very large sum of money” according to the AG, stating that this factor alone could not justify a long period of pre-trial detention.

As for the risk of tampering with evidence, “although such a risk is genuine at the outset of the detention, it may gradually diminish, or even disappear altogether,” the court said, thereby granting the woman bail against a deposit of €10,000, a personal guarantee of €10,000 and a number of other conditions.

Lawyers Stephen Tonna Lowell, Stefano Filletti and Arthur Azzopardi were defence counsel.

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