A gang member linked to a spate of thefts in the Sliema area four years ago has lost a €30,000 personal guarantee after being rearrested under court order.
Kartlos Dola-Beridze, a 43-year old Georgian national, was marched to court on Tuesday morning barely hours after his return to Malta on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant.
The warrant was executed by French authorities after he was seen in southern France last September.
Mr Dola-Beridze, together with four other Eastern European nationals, had been facing criminal proceedings in Malta over their alleged involvement in some 28 robberies targeting victims in Sliema, St Julian’s and other areas back in 2014.
The five members of the alleged racket had been charged over their involvement in organised crime, participating in criminal activities, forming part of a gang of organised crime as well as handling stolen property.
After several unsuccessful attempts to be released from custody, all five were ultimately granted bail by the Criminal Court last May against a number of conditions. They included signing the bail book twice a day and depositing a personal guarantee of €30,000 each.
However, police suspicions were aroused when the co-accused failed to show up for their hearing in court, leading the police to inform the court on July 31 that all five had probably fled the island since they had last signed the bail book on July 20.
When Mr Dola-Beridze was tracked down in France, Maltese authorities kicked off proceedings under a European Arrest Warrant to have the man extradited to Malta.
As Mr Dola-Beridze was brought before magistrate Josette Demicoli, the magistrate who had been presiding over the criminal proceedings relating to the alleged thefts, Inspectors Fabian Fleri and Kurt Zahra asked for the man’s re-arrest and for the forfeiture of the €30,000 bail guarantee in favour of the State.
However, defence lawyers Shazoo Ghaznavi and Charlon Gouder, countered that while they were not contesting their client’s re-arrest, they were contesting the forfeiture of the bail guarantee, arguing that this could only be requested had the prosecution filed fresh charges for breach of bail.
The prosecution had only asked for the extradition and re-arrest of the accused for the reasons stated in the EAW, which reasons did not mention the breach of bail and consequent forfeiture of the €30,000 personal guarantee, the defence argued.
“If this is not a serious breach of bail, then what is? He absconded from Malta and had to be brought back under a EAW,” Inspector Jonathan Ransley also prosecuting, remarked.
Inspector Fleri also pointed out that “the accused had been found in possession of false Slovakian documents and had been identified through facial recognition, fingerprints and DNA analysis,” further requesting that Mr Dola-Beridze be prosecuted separately from the other co-accused who, to date, are still fleeing justice.
After due deliberation in chambers, magistrate Demicoli returned to deliver her decision in open court. She upheld the arguments put forward by the prosecution and ordered the revocation of bail, the man’s re-arrest and the forfeiture of the €30,000 bail guarantee in favour of the State or else its conversion into prison time up to a maximum of two years, should the accused fail to hand over the sum due.
At the end of the hearing, Dr Ghaznavi requested the court to be allowed the assistance of an interpreter when visiting his client in jail so as to overcome language barrier issues since the man could only communicate in Georgian.