The prosecution yesterday made the closing arguments in the trial by jury of a mother and her daughter charged with money laundering between May 2002 and February 2004. Carmen Butler and her daughter Stephanie are accused of laundering money, when they deposited €56,619 (Lm24,300) through 19 transactions into an HSBC account in the space of 22 months.

Lawyer Aaron Bugeja, from the Attorney General's Office, referred to the evidence given by the accused, who denied knowing the origin of the money they had deposited in the bank.

Defence counsel Anġlu Farrugia told the jurors his clients are not to blame as they were used by Carmelo Butler, Carmen Butler's husband, in order to deposit the money coming from his criminal activities. (Mr Butler is serving time in prison in Italy after having been found guilty of human trafficking and homicide.)

Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo started the summing up of the case and is expected to finish this morning. The jurors are then expected to retire to deliberate.

Dr Farrugia and lawyer Edward Gatt are defence counsel.

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