Officials as a food imports company became suspicious of their deliveryman's actions when a tracking device on his van showed he was regularly straying away from his route, a court heard today.

Fernando Sammut, 36, a former deliveryman at Francis Busuttil and Sons Ltd, stands accused of having misappropriated over €8,000 worth of goods to the detriment of the company.

The case dates back to 2013 when company officials noted a discrepancy between the stock and the revenue declared by the accused.

Joseph Hili, Financial Controller, explained t that the company's suspicion was raised when it was noted that there was a discrepancy of about €7,500 between the value of the items marked as sold and the remaining stock. On another occasion some €650 worth of stock was not accounted for.

Mr Hili said that the accused had so far refunded some €450 of the misappropriated money.

Police Inspector Sara Magri said that since the company vans were equipped with tracking devices, the deliveryman's superiors realized that he was often visiting retail outlets that were not on his designated route.

Although Mr Sammut was tasked with delivering goods in the northern area around Mellieha, he visited other locations including Żebbuġ. Moreover no invoice was produced for the goods sold there.

During his police interrogation, the accused had initially denied any wrongdoing, claiming that he sometimes left the van unattended and that therefore the goods might have been stolen. However, later he admitted to the police that he was the victim of a loan shark and was selling the company's products to generate some extra revenue to repay his debt.

Mr Sammut had already been handed a suspended sentence by Magistrate Carol Peralta in 2014 but an appeals court had found that the sentence was premature as the compilation had not been concluded.

Lawyer David Camilleri appeared for the accused.