Guilty of corruption VAT inspector says she did ‘absolutely nothing wrong’

A former VAT inspector sentenced to six months jail on Thursday filed an appeal yesterday claiming that she did “absolutely nothing wrong”.

Liliana Galea, 33, of Marsascala was found guilty of accepting a €1,000 gift for speeding up the payment of refunds to her uncle, Saviour Micallef.

In her appeal, she said that Magistrate Doreen Clarke had incorrectly evaluated the evidence before the court and found her guilty when she had done absolutely nothing wrong.

She also argued that the jail term was excessive, especially when taken in the context that she was a married woman with two children and was fully integrated in society with no need to reform.

Mrs Galea insisted that the money she was given by her uncle was merely in appreciation of her help to speed up the payment of returns that were owed to him. This she had done by taking documents to the cash office saving him time. Under Maltese law, her lawyers argued, she could not be found guilty of bribery when she had accepted money after a specific act. She asked for the Criminal Court of Appeal to acquit her of all guilt.

Mrs Galea was a small part of a much larger corruption scandal that rocked the institution in 2009.

The person the police believe to be the mastermind, Nigel Abela, 40 of Dingli, stands charged with pocketing €186,000 from the scam. His case is still pending.

The investigation led to 32 people, including another five VAT department employees, six men, thought to be middlemen, and 20 businessmen, some of whom have been convicted.