A former bank manager who accepted a VRT certificate for his car when he knew it had not been tested has been conditionally discharged for two years.

William Stride, 62, from San Ġwann, was charged with having used a false document in October 2009.

During the case, Police Inspector Angelo Gafa’ testified that in November 2009 the police had investigated the granting of VRT certificates by a company called Car Clinic. A computer was seized and a discrepancy in 1,400 cars was found.

He explained that the testing machinery was stand-alone and not connected to the Transport Malta system. When a vehicle passed the test, the operator moved to another system linked with Transport Malta to input the vehicle’s details and to mark it as passed.

Therefore, one could have a situation where details were inputted on the Transport Malta system when the vehicle would not have actually been tested.

Mr Stride in his testimony said he had taken his car for a service and then for the test.

He was sure his car met all requirements. This was the first time he had used this particular VRT station.

He admitted that the tester did not put the car to the test but issued the certificate assuming that everything was OK.

He paid for the VRT and drove off. He had not felt he was doing anything wrong in that he was sure the car would have passed the test.

He had not received any benefit as he still paid for the test.

Magistrate Herrera said there was no doubt that the VRT certificate was false in that his car was never actually tested. Although the falsification was made by a third party and Mr Stride obtained no benefit, he was still an accessory to a crime.

He was conditionally discharged for two years.