A man was cleared of usury after a court found that the person who accused him of the crime was “a con artist par excellence” who borrowed money and then told the police he was the victim of a loan shark.
Patrick Pace, 44, of Birkir-kara was cleared of usury and threatening Joseph Friggieri in 2004 after the court heard that Mr Friggieri had even pretended to be a bank manager to get Mr Pace to believe he would pay back the borrowed money.
Besides, five years after the case was filed, Mr Friggieri – who had a previous fraud conviction – had agreed to pay back Mr Pace.
Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani heard how, in 2004, Mr Friggieri anonymously told the television talk show Xarabank he was the victim of usury. He recounted on air he had borrowed €18,000 from a loan shark who demanded €30,000 back.
Mr Pace, who was watching the programme, recognised Mr Friggieri and headed to the Xarabank studios to give his version with the audience. However, on arrival, he was stopped by the police.
Magistrate Padovani heard Mr Friggieri explain he borrowed the money from Mr Pace because he had a gambling problem. He would borrow amounts of about €580 at a time but Mr Pace would write down that he gave him €815, he said.
Mr Pace denied this and insisted he had lent Mr Friggieri €14,000 to run his toy importation business. He added Mr Friggieri gave him a bounced cheque in repayment. After that, Mr Friggieri phoned him up, pretending to be a bank manager, to let him know he would be able to make the payment.
On hearing the evidence, the magistrate ruled it resulted Mr Friggieri was a con artist who begged for money and, once it was lent to him, he ran to the police claiming he was a usury victim. For this reason, Mr Pace was acquitted.