A victim of fraud said this morning that the man who defrauded him would call him to ask for money pretending to be Transport Minister Austin Gatt, the head of the Transport Ministry's secretariat Manuel Delia, and Smart City chairman Claudio Grech.

Taking the witness stand in the case against Joseph Friggieri, 45, who is charged with defrauding him of €750,000, Joseph Spiteri said that all his and his wife's work in the past 15 to 20 years had been destroyed.

Breaking into tears various times, Mr Spiteri said he would receive phone calls from Mr Friggieri pretending to be the other people telling him to hand over cash and that he would reap the benefits later in contracts from Smart City.

He said he had been completely blind and had believed his every word.

Mr Spiteri said that once, Joseph Friggieri showed him a villa saying it was worth €850,000 but he was ready to let it go for €350,000. He had said that he needed the 15 per cent of the total amount in deposit if he wanted him to keep the house for him.

Mr Spiteri said he had told Mr Friggieri that he wanted the house and that he would only be able to pay the full amount once the contracts and tenders came through.

Mr Friggieri, he said, gave him the key to the house so that he could start carrying out the necessary works. He said he only got to know that it belonged to the owners of Mambra when he realised he had been defrauded.

He said the situation had left him in a state of desperation, it had brought him to ruin and his family would one day find him dead.