A man who altered a customs document to facilitate the transfer of a sea vessel that had been hit by a freezing order because of a court case its owner was facing has been placed on probation for a year and ordered to carry out 100 hours of community work.

Peter Lee Sammut, 20, admitted to falsifying the documents in an attempt to sell the speedboat to a Libyan man who was ready to pay €18,000 to purchase the fast speedboat.

The court heard how Mr Sammut knew that the boat could not be sold or transferred because of the freezing order but had decided to alter the documents showing the vessel was his because he did not want to lose the sale.

Before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, Mr Sammut pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him, that included falsifying official documents for profit and taking a false oath before a notary.

The court placed him on probation for a year and ordered him to carry out 100 hours of community work.

Police Inspector Rennie Stivala prosecuted. Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Amadeus Cachia appeared for the accused.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.