The man who set up the Dom Mintoff Foundation in homage to the former prime minister was cleared of fraud for issuing cheques when a band club’s bank account was closed.

Magistrate Carol Peralta acquitted Josef Grech, 34, from Marsascala, after ruling that he was not the only person on the committee of the Lourdes Philharmonic Society of Paola and was not the treasurer and, therefore, he could not have known that the bank account had been closed.

Mr Grech had been charged with defrauding Go Plc of more than €5,500 when he purchased mobile phones and several top-up cards between December 2010 and January 2011.

Magistrate Peralta accepted what defence counsel Patrick Valentino said: that Mr Grech had simply been given the cheque book and told to purchase the items to be used in a fund-raising lottery. Last April, Mr Grech was sentenced to 20 months in jail after a court found him and a co-accused, Omar Caruana, guilty of defrauding musicians whom they engaged on behalf of the Lourdes Philharmonic Society.

This happened in February 2010 and in the preceding months.

Magistrate Antonio Vella heard that the two, who sat on the club’s committee, engaged bandsmen and issued cheques from an account that had been closed.

The court heard that Mr Caruana, the treasurer, had fallen for Mr Grech’s tricks.

However, as the sole signatory, Mr Caruana was responsible for ensuring funds were available. He was sentenced to a year in prison, while Mr Grech had eight months added to the time he had to serve after the court effected an eight-month suspended jail term in another case from May 2010.

Police Inspector Maurice Curmi prosecuted. An appeal was filed, and the case is pending.