Medical certificates presented by fraudster Patrick Spiteri to Maltese courts claiming he is unable to travel listed his correct UK address, but the police failed to act on it and instead issued an open warrant for his arrest, The Sunday Times of Malta can reveal. London-based neurologist Paul Jarman, who signed the certificates, listed Mr Spiteri’s correct address in Surrey in at least two certificates.
However, when a Maltese court ordered that a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) be issued on October 20, after the police started questioning the veracity of the claim that he is unable to travel, an open warrant was issued, without the address.
This meant the police in Surrey, where Mr Spiteri was residing, where unaware that a person within their jurisdiction was wanted. It was only when a team from The Sunday Times of Malta established Mr Spiteri’s whereabouts independently, that the dots were joined, and officers from the Guildford constabulary moved in to arrest him on November 8.
Questions sent to the police communications office on Thursday remained unanswered at the time of writing. Police were asked to confirm or deny the information and say whether the matter would be investigated.
This newspaper had been independently investigating whether Mr Spiteri was able to travel since August, tapping into various sources who could help provide information on Mr Spiteri’s movements. When this newspaper found out that an EAW had been issued, and that the police had been unable to locate him, we travelled to the UK to confirm Mr Spiteri’s whereabouts.
Police sources who spoke to this newspaper put the blunder down to lack of resources.
You’ve got inspectors trying to prosecute and investigate dozens of cases at the same time
“The reality is that the Economic Crimes Unit is completely snowed under, and officers were not replaced after the former head of unit, Michael Cassar, and Inspector Angelo Gafa both moved to the security service shortly after the election,” a senior police officer said. “What’s more, you’ve got inspectors trying to prosecute and investigate dozens of cases at the same time, alongside complex and delicate cases like Patrick Spiteri’s, the oil scandal, or Dalligate.”
On the Monday after his November 8 arrest, Mr Spiteri appeared before the Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London where he was granted bail against a security deposit of €90,000 and a strict curfew which demands that the 50-year-old be indoors between 11am and 4am.
During that time window, he also has to report daily to the Guilford police station.
The court in London will now have to establish if his claim that he is unable to travel is true and on that basis decide whether to extradite him. The next hearing is expected in February.
Back in Malta, Mr Spiteri is facing eight separate cases, together amounting to an alleged fraud and misappropriation exceeding €10 million.
In May, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera – at the request of the prosecution – decided to postpone indefinitely a case in which he stands accused of defrauding an Italian businessman of almost €5 million.
The move set a precedent for seven more pending cases, however, the police eventually started looking into the certificates and decided to issue an arrest warrant.
Dr Spiteri ran a successful tax and investments consultancy firm for years and had companies in the UK and Italy. However, towards the end of the 1990s he started being investigated in relation to multiple cases of fraud and misappropriation both in Malta and in Italy which led to at least 11 criminal cases against him.
So far he has only been found guilty of one case, in which he forged a property contract.