A meat importer was fined €28,000 after a magistrate upheld an objection by his defence lawyer who had described the prosecution’s call for a fine of €325,000 as “legalised usury”.

Lawyer Joe Giglio disagreed with the police, who had argued that the fine should be decided in relation to the total value of the imported meat rather than the sum underpaid.

Gordon Spiteri, 43, from Balzan, was accused of not declaring the total value of the meat he had imported in two containers in 2007.

Magistrate Josette Demicoli heard that Mr Spiteri, a director of AMG Meats limited, ordered consignments of frozen, boneless meat from New Zealand.

Police investigations revealed that documents submitted to the Customs Department in Malta and those processed by Customs in New Zealand did not tally.

The police argued that the fine should be decided in relation to the total value of the imported meat rather than the sum underpaid

The defence did not contest the under-declaration charge but hotly objected to the calculation of the actual amount of duty owed.

Dr Giglio said the prosecution was expecting his client to pay the full amount without reducing the duty that had been paid on the declared quantity of meat. This, he said, constituted “legalised usury”.

The court heard that Mr Spiteri had paid €47,671 in duty on the first container, when he should have paid €50,999, a discrepancy of €3,328. He had declared that the meat’s value was €80,006. It was actually worth €106,006.

On the second container, Mr Spiteri had declared the meat’s value to be €85,257, when it should have been €134,313. He had paid €50,857 and not €57,135, a difference of €6,278.

The fine imposed by law upon someone found guilty of duty evasion is three times the amount evaded. While the accused had evaded an import duty of €9,606, the prosecution asked the court to impose a fine equivalent to three times the €108,134 total duty on the two containers, or €324,402.

However, Dr Giglio argued that the €98,528 duty already paid could not be ignored.

The court agreed with the defence and fined Mr Spiteri €28,821, equivalent to three times the evaded import duty of €9,607. He was found guilty of under-declaring the true value of the imported meat and cleared of charges related to the forgery of documents.

Police Inspector Maurice Curmi prosecuted.