A person extradited under a European Arrest Warrant must only answer for those offences specifically stated in the warrant. This argument was raised this morning by disbarred lawyer Patrick Spiteri when back in court to face proceedings over alleged VAT offences.

Defence lawyer Stefano Filletti succinctly explained the objection being raised on behalf of his client who in May was extradited from England back to his homeland over charges of misappropriation and fraud running into some €7.4 million.

In today’s separate proceedings filed against the former lawyer by the VAT department, the defence argued that the accused could not be made to face the accusations owing to restrictions in the EAW under which he had been brought back to Malta.

Such warrants were highly restricted in scope, Dr Filletti explained, and ignoring this speciality rule could create a dangerous precedent and potentially spark off a diplomatic incident.

Pointing out that his client had been extradited over fraud and misappropriation offences, he could not therefore face other unrelated charges once back on home territory, Dr Filletti went on, stressing further that allowing such a dangerous precedent would undermine the EAW system which was essentially structured upon the principle of mutual trust between jurisdictions.

The sitting was adjourned to a later date when a decision on this particular issue is expected.