Court orders re-arrest of casino fraud suspect

An Italian man charged with defrauding a casino, was yesterday re-arrested after a court upheld a request to revoke his bail for fear he may escape from Malta.

Magistrate Antonio Vella upheld the application filed by the police and the Attorney General requesting the revocation of bail granted to Gaetano Caramazza.

Last December, Mr Caramazza and his co-accused - Italian Fabio Zulian and Slovenian Nevio Barut - were charged with defrauding the Casino di Venezia of about j172,000 (Lm74,000). Mr Caramazza was eventually granted bail and bound by a Lm15,000 deposit.

Then, last Friday, the police and the Attorney General demanded that his bail should be revoked after a taxi driver reported that Mr Caramazza was planning to abscond.

The driver said Mr Caramazza had offered him money in return for help to escape from the island.

Mr Caramazza denied ever asking the taxi driver to help him escape from Malta and insisted that he was innocent and had no intention of going away before proving his innocence.

After hearing several witnesses and legal submissions, Magistrate Vella ruled that he believed there were sufficient reasons, according to law, to uphold the application. The magistrate ordered that Mr Caramazza's bail be revoked. He did not, however, order the forfeiture of the Lm15,000 deposit as Mr Caramazza was not being accused of breaching the bail conditions imposed on him.

Donatella Frendo Dimech and Arthur Azzopardi, from the office of the Attorney General, and Police Inspector Antonovich Muscat prosecuted.

Lawyer Veronique Dalli and José Herrera were defence counsel.