A 31-year-old man, who worked in a travel agency, was charged today with the laundering some €190,000 in drug money.
The prosecution said that the man, who is pleading not guilty, wired the money through Western Union to an account allegedly linked to a two-kilo heroin drug haul made in Germany about four years ago.
Back then two Lithuanian men had been arrested in Germany in the possession of the drugs that were destined for Malta, sources said. In 2013 a Maltese man was arraigned in Malta and charged with conspiracy to import the drugs.
Magistrate Carol Peralta today temporarily upheld a request by the defence lawyers and ordered a ban on the publication of the name of the accused, who is pleading not guilty to money laundering on and before April 2011.
Sources said police will be appealing the decision to ban the man's identity.
Lawyers Gianella de Marco, Gianluca Caruana Curran and Stephen Tonna Lowell also made a request for bail and argued that the case dated back to 2011 when police investigations started. Since then, their client had been granted police bail and always cooperated with police.
They added that their client had no criminal record and never had any problems with the law. Moreover, he had strong work and family ties in Malta. They added that their client was denying his involvement and insisted he did not know about the origin of the money in question.
Police Inspector Herman Mula confirmed the accused's cooperation and explained that this case involved a "complicated investigation" that started in 2011 over transactions that were drug related.
A magisterial inquiry was held and, a few weeks ago, police received documentation from the UK and proceeded with the arraignment.
The defence lawyer also asked the magistrate to order a ban on the publication of their client's name. Dr de Marco argued that naming him made no difference to the course of justice but it was important that the case was public. She added that she could not say more and called for a temporary ban.
The magistrate said that, in this case, he feared that naming the accused could impact his livelihood since clients would no longer trust in him.
The magistrate acceded to both requests. He ordered a ban on the publication of the name and granted him bail against a €2,000 deposit and a personal guarantee of €8,000.