A man who was convicted of defrauding several people by pretending to offer  lucrative business deals has had relapsing added to his list of pending cases.

Joseph Friggieri, 45, from Msida, who is unemployed, is currently facing fraud charges in three separate cases. He has already been convicted of another two.

In the latest case heard today, where he was accused of defrauding Sandro Maggi of about €11,000 in 2010, Police Inspector Maurice Curmi asked the court to add the charge of relapsing.

As evidence, the inspector presented judgments in which Mr Friggieri was found guilty in 2009 of defrauding two men. In the first case he defrauded Patrick Pace of some €28,000 and another man Emanuel Mifsud of some €16,000.

He received a two year jail term suspended for four years for the first case and 13 months imprisonment suspended for two years for the second.

In the other pending court cases he stands charged with defrauding a businessman of €750,000, two others of some €2,000 and a third of some €25,000.

His victims always report the same allegation: he pretends to offer a lucrative business deal claiming he knows politicians and then phones the victims impersonating the public figures.

So far in court witnesses have testified how they had received calls from a man pretending to be Minister Austin Gatt, the head of secretariat, Manuel Delia, Malta Information Technology Agency chairman Claudio Grech, a certain Philip Azzopardi, Central Bank Governor Josef Bonnici, Mgr Victor Grech and   employees in the education department.

In the case today, one of the victims, Mr Maggi told the court that because of Mr Friggieri he could not afford to pay for his children’s school fees and had been informed that they should not turn up to school in the New Year.

The case continues.