A betting company employee was charged today of defrauding his employer  of €153,000 through commissions from artificially generated traffic on the company’s online gaming websites.

Christiaan Alexander Van Dalen, 41, who holds a Dutch passport but resides in Malta, pleaded not guilty to the seven charges brought against him before Magistrate Charmaine Galea.

The accused who used to work as a field manager for Betsson Service Group, was responsible for creating gaming websites and used to receive a commission varying between 25 and 50 per cent from the customers’ bets.

The court heard how the employee had artificially inflated the number of customers by using the details of account holders to generate fictitious new accounts.

Inspectors Jonathan Ferris and Raymond Aquilina, who led the prosecution, noted that the accused had concealed part of his proceeds from this illegal activity by transferring them to his Filipino wife’s local bank account and to his Neteller account (a kind of electronic wallet). They also noted that during this period the man had acquired various properties in the Philippines.

Following a heated exchange between the defence and the prosecution, the court froze the financial assets of the accused as well as those belonging to his wife. The defence had insisted that it was unfair to impose such a restriction on the wife as she had not been charged, while the prosecution argued that her bank accounts were “part and parcel” of the case.

Bail was denied.

The court also ordered the Director of Prisons to ensure that the accused would not have access to any IT equipment so as to prevent any possible tampering of evidence.

Lawyer Joe Ellis was legal aid while lawyer  Ian Vella Galea appeared parte civile for the betting company

 

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