Conman back in court

A 45-year-old unemployed man from Msida was charged in court today with having conned a number of businesses out of €755,000 after allegedly promising them lucrative contracts with SmartCity.

Joseph Friggieri, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He is alleged to have acted as a middleman, falsely claming to have good contacts within the Infrastructure Ministry through which he could secure contracts for SmartCity. At one time, the man is alleged to have booked 'a whole hotel' for a visit by Chinese officials who never turned up, according to sources.

Police inspector Ian Abdilla told the court that there is discrepancy between what the accused said the amount is and what the alleged victims are claiming. He said that they corroborated each other in a police statement except on the amount.

This varied between 200,000 euros and 755,000 euros.

Allegedly, Mr Friggieri also conned an insurance company and three other businesses.

In July, Mr Friggieri was also accused of having defrauded two businessmen out of €55,000 by promising them contracts after posing as a friend of Emanuel Delia, the head of the secretariat within the IT Ministry.