A magistrate yesterday told off a police inspector who arraigned a lawyer "under arrest" on charges of defrauding a couple of €70,000 when the accused could have been asked to appear in court the following day.

Magistrate Antonio Mizzi scolded the officer for arraigning the lawyer even after he had paid all the money back to the victims a few hours before.

The 35-year-old lawyer, Reuben Micallef, was taken to court and charged with misappropriating the large sum by charging a British couple for services he never rendered.

Lawyer Peter Fenech, appearing for the couple, Alan and Sylvia Huntley, informed the court as the proceedings got under way that the accused had just paid all the money back.

On hearing this, the magistrate told off Police Inspector Ian Abdilla for arraigning Dr Micallef under arrest once the money had been repaid.

He stressed that had he just waited another 24 hours there would have been no need to arraign him under arrest.

Mr and Mrs Huntley holiday in Malta regularly and they contacted the police after they had paid Dr Micallef the amount for legal services he allegedly never carried out.

Defence lawyer Joseph Giglio asked the court to grant his client bail, which request was immediately acceded to by the court, which did not impose any conditions.

Inspector Abdilla asked the court to at least set a few bail conditions but the magistrate replied there was absolutely no need once the money had been paid back.

The Chamber of Advocates later said it was investigating the case.