The Attorney General yesterday dismissed news reports that he would be appealing five of the seven convictions handed down on the VAT fraud case, insisting he still had to decide.

Dr Silvio Camilleri told The Times on Friday his office still had to see the case files before deciding. Yesterday, he insisted on this position: "I have not decided yet. I have to decide and nobody else."

He was asked to react to the news, broadcast on the national television station PBS that his office planned to appeal five of the sentences handed down so far in the VAT fraud case.

"As far as I am aware my office has not even seen the proceedings yet," he said.

Seven men who were charged with taking part in an organised fraud scam at the VAT department pleaded guilty last week but avoided jail. Instead they were handed down suspended sentences, the longest being a two-year jail term suspended for four years, and fines, the highest amounting to €700.

They were also given a general interdiction, meaning they will no longer be able to vote, buy or sell property, hold public office or sign official documents such as contracts.

The group, including a VAT department employee, a middleman and five businessmen, were the first seven of 32 individuals facing charges of bribery, fraud and corruption, among other things.

They were allegedly part of a scam in which businessmen who owed money to the department could pay off middlemen and government employees to reduce the amounts they owed.

The sentences have angered many, who saw them as too lenient, particularly the fines imposed.

Vince Farrugia, director general of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, compared the punishment to a "mosquito bite".

"We crucify the small honest businessman who slips up for God knows what reason but we let clearly corrupt criminals go home," he said.