AG 'wasted court's time'

The Attorney General has been fined Lm25 for filing a frivolous appeal which the Court of Criminal Appeal described as "a waste of time".

The appeal was filed in the case of Marbeck Cremona who had been fined Lm300 when the Magistrates' Court found her guilty of the misappropriation of a company car.

Ms Cremona and the Attorney General (AG) both filed an appeal to the judgment. Ms Cremona requested that she be acquitted but, after hearing the evidence, her appeal was turned down by Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano in the appeal court.

In his appeal the AG called on the court to declare the magistrate's judgement null. The AG claimed that the first court had ruled that article 295 (insurance fraud) as listed by the AG (in the charges against Ms Cremona) had nothing to do with the case.

However, the AG noted in the appeal, the first court had then listed the article in the judgment when it found Ms Cremona guilty. The appeal court noted that this was clearly an oversight by the Magistrates' Court as the charge of insurance fraud had nothing to do with the case. The AG's appeal was merely a waste of time, the court ruled.