MUSEUM financial administrator cleared of misappropriation

A man who loaned an acquaintance over €1 million from MUSEUM society money has been cleared of charges relating to misappropriating funds.

The society's financial administrator, Manueli Catania, 65, from Naxxar, was charged after loaning Kevin Zammit money on seven occasions over a period of five years.

The case came to the attention of the police when it was noticed that substantial amounts of money were moving between the accounts of the MUSEUM and the Preca Library. At the time, they were investigating Mr Zammit's transactions.

However, the Magistrates' Court cleared Mr Catania of the charges after it found he was not attempting to gain from the transactions. On the contrary, he was seeking to earn more money for the MUSEUM since he was charging Mr Zammit a higher rate of interest than that offered by the banks.

Mr Zammit had initially requested €135,000 and Mr Catania had got the blessing of the MUSEUM society's director, Joseph Abdilla, to lend him the money.

When the requests kept coming, the director and its executive committee decided to put a stop to the loans. However, Mr Catania continued to lend money to Mr Zammit.

In a hearing on November 21, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said Mr Catania immediately co-operated with the police and had instantly admitted his mistake when he continued lending the money despite the committee's decision not to.

Mr Abdilla said he did not know that the global sum had amounted to over €1 million, but, following police investigations, a contract was signed between the MUSEUM and Mr Zammit establishing how much he owed as well as a repayment schedule.

The court also heard that in the 35 years he formed part of the MUSEUM society and the 10 years as its administrator, Mr Catania had deposited almost all his own money - an estimated €326,000 - in its accounts and in those of the Preca Library, which he had created from scratch.

Moreover, Mr Catania had generated substantial amounts of money, which were poured into the MUSEUM society for its various projects. He would also insist that the money owed to him from his work as a property middleman be donated to the MUSEUM, and in his will left everything to the society.

One of the Preca Library accounts was made up of Mr Catania's own money, which he considered to be the MUSEUM's and which he passed on to it.