A magistrate this afternoon ordered the extradition of an Italian businessman wanted in Italy to face charges of fraud and participation in organised crime.

Stefano Detassis, the managing director of Delva Corporation Limited, an import and export company dealing in organic cereals, is wanted by the tribunal of Pesaro.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja ruled that there was not nothing that impeded the man’s extradition to face charges in his home country after he heard that the offence for which he is wanted was an extraditable offence.

In a previous hearing last week, the court heard how he had been placed under house arrest in Italy, with defence counsel Lorna Mifsud Cachia saying her client had informed the Italian and Maltese authorities that he was in Malta and was, therefore, not a fugitive.

Police Inspector Mario Cuschieri said that the Maltese police had received a European Arrest Warrant for Mr Detassis issued in August last year. He was only localised last week in his apartment in Paceville and arrested immediately.

Inspector Cuschieri and Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech prosecuted.