Woman claims she was offered money to testify in fraud case

A magistrate yesterday asked the Police Commissioner to investigate the claim of a woman who said that she had been offered money to testify.

The woman, Chantal Caddoo Calì, was testifying in the case of Miriam Reid who was accused of defrauding John Alamango of €20,970 by claiming her hus-band had died and she needed money.

Mr Alamango contacted the police and they instituted criminal proceedings against Ms Reid.

During the case, Ms Caddoo Calì was called to testify and on the witness stand gave two conflicting versions of what had happened before finally admitting to being asked by Mr Alamango to testify in his favour.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke said she found Ms Reid not guilty of the charges since there was no evidence to support the claim made by Mr Alamango.

However, she also asked that the judgment and testimony of Ms Caddoo Calì be handed over to the Police Commissioner for further investigation.

Lawyers Gianella and Gianluca Caruana Curran appeared for Ms Reid.