A man who sold drinks and snacks at a Church charity event and issued hand-written fiscal receipts as a panel-beater was today acquitted by the Criminal Court of Appeal after he pleaded that he had followed official advice.

Joseph Cardona had previously been found guilty by the Magistrates' Court of not issuing receipts using a cash register. He had been fined €700.

Joseph Cardona told the court during the appeal proceedings that he had issued receipts for all sales and this had not been disputed, The VAT inspector himself had been given one.

He said that prior to the activity - to raise funds for the Peru missionaries - he and other organisers had gone to the VAT Department to enquire about procedures. Since the organisers did not have a VAT number, the VAT customer care officials had confirmed that he could use his receipt book as a panel beater.

The VAT inspector told the court that during an inspection of Mr Cardona's kiosk, it was noted that two men were not given a receipt for their purchase. It was only when they drew attention that a receipt was issued. Furthermore, for this sort of business, receipts had to be issued using a cash register.

As they left, Mr Cardona had followed them and angrily asked them if they were going to report him. It resulted that the accused was a panel beater and had not submitted all his returns.

The court said it was not clear whether the accused had actually issued hand written receipts before the inspectors intervened, but there was no reason to believe that the accused had not said the truth.

However there was an issue over whether the accused should have used a cash register. No evidence had been presented to dispute the fact that he had done so only after seeking advice from the VAT Department, and he had therefore been acting in line with the official advice he was given.