A court heard yesterday the police suspected that money deposited in a bank account by a girl in fact came from her father's criminal activities.

Carmen Butler and her daughter Stephanie are facing a trial by jury charged with laundering money between May 2002 and February 2004, when they deposited large amounts of money into a bank account and failed to declare where the money had come from.

The second day of the trial opened yesterday with the cross examination of Police Inspector Paul Vassallo.

He said that Carmen Butler's husband, Carmelo, who is serving time in prison, has two pending cases in connection with alleged theft of vehicles. It was suspected that the money deposited by Ms Butler into a bank account had come from various criminal activities by her father, such as the stolen cars and trafficking in people.

Taking the witness stand, the Director of Protocol at the Foreign Ministry, Olaf Terribile, said he had been informed by the Italian authorities that there were extradition proceedings against Mr Butler for human trafficking.

Mr Terribile said Mr Butler had been seeking medical assistance in England when a European arrest warrant was issued by the Italian authorities for charges of trafficking in people and for homicide. The court heard how Mr Butler was subsequently jailed for 22 years in March 2006 after he was found guilty of people trafficking and homicide.

Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo, presiding over the trial, heard Senior Counsel to the Republic Donatella Frendo Dimech testify that the fact that the money was deposited between 2002 and 2004 by Ms Butler and her mother did not mean the crime took place in that time period.

"The crime could have occurred a long time before the money was ever deposited, even years".

The trial continues this morning.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General's Office, prosecuted.

Lawyers Anġlu Farrugia and Edward Gatt are defence counsel.