Lawyer accused of breaching bail conditions

A lawyer charged with forgery and fraud breached his bail conditions by going abroad without waiting for the outcome of an application for authorisation, the attorney general claimed yesterday.

Dr Anthony Borg Barthet filed an application before the Criminal Court requesting the revocation of bail in the case against Dr Patrick Spiteri.

Dr Spiteri, 37, of Wardija stands charged before the Magistrates' Court with forging a contract and the signature of Notary John Debono.

He is also charged with defrauding Emanuel Muscat and is pleading not guilty.

Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano yesterday heard the prosecution explain that Dr Spiteri was granted bail on October 2 and among the conditions laid down for the granting of bail, he was bound not to leave the island unless authorised by the court under a personal guarantee of Lm5,000.

Dr Spiteri filed an application before the Criminal Court last Monday requesting leave to travel to Italy and London on business between Tuesday and Wednesday. The application was denied.

But Dr Spiteri left for Italy on Tuesday at 11.30 a.m. and returned to Malta early on Thursday morning from London Heathrow.

The prosecution claimed that this meant he was in breach of his bail conditions and requested the court to revoke his bail, order his arrest and confiscate the Lm5,000 bail bond.

Dr Borg Barthet, in making his submissions before Chief Justice De Gaetano, argued that Dr Spiteri had not only filed an application at the last minute but had failed to ensure that his passport was restricted to the countries he was travelling to when he had previously been granted leave to travel to certain countries on certain dates.

He said the defendant's behaviour was nonchalant, to say the least, and the court should restrict his freedom in every way possible so that he be made to realise that he was facing very serious charges.

Dr Borg Barthet also pointed out that Dr Spiteri's ties to Malta were not that convincing. He had offices and money all over the world and was the type to take a flight to London just to spend a couple of hours working at his office there.

He called on the court to curb Dr Spiteri's travelling.

But Dr Giannella Caruana Curran, for Dr Spiteri, explained how her client had made a mistake but that it was understandable in the circumstances.

Dr Spiteri had previously filed an application requesting leave to travel to the same places for the same reasons and his application had been granted. He had no reason to believe the court would deny him leave to travel just two days later.

He had been wrong to assume that the court would again accede to his request but he was guilty only of acting a little precipitously and had not meant any disrespect to the court.

The minute he learnt the prosecution was objecting to him travelling he had immediately returned back to Malta on the first available flight and had not waited for the court ruling.

This was clear evidence that Dr Spiteri had acted in good faith. Dr Caruana Curran also explained that Dr Spiteri had been due to undergo medical tests in England and that he had left the island in a bit of a hurry because he was anxious to know the results of these tests.

Dr Caruana Curran said her client had previously been to the passport office with a court marshal to ask an immigration officer about restrictions on his passport and ensure that he abided by the conditions imposed by the court.

But the immigration officer had told him there was no need for the restrictions to be detailed on his passport and he had taken his word for it. He could hardly be blamed for travelling without the restriction when he had previously gone through the proper channels.

Dr Caruana Curran argued that the fact that her client had left the country in breach of a court ruling had had no serious consequence on the case and she called on Chief Justice De Gaetano to take this into consideration.

Her client had always asked the court for leave before travelling and had made great efforts to ensure that he abided by his bail conditions to the letter. This should be taken in his favour, she said.

Chief Justice De Gaetano put off the hearing for a ruling in camera but not before he imposed temporary additional conditions pending the ruling.

He ordered Dr Spiteri to deposit his passport and any other travel documents in the hands of Inspector Bernard Zarb and to report to the Qawra police station every day.

The prosecution was led by Attorney General Anthony Borg Barthet with counsel for the republic Donatella Frendo Dimech.

Dr Caruana Curran appeared for the defendant.