A former VAT Inspector, Liliana Galea, 33 of Marsascala has been jailed for six months, fined and interdicted after being convicted of accepting a gift she was not entitled to.
She was, however, acquitted of disclosing confidential information.
The court heard evidence by a colleague of the accused, Carmel Deguara, who said that she used to give him documents sealed in an envelope, to hand over to her uncle, Saviour Micallef. At one time Mr Micallef gave a monetary gift to Mrs Galea for speeding up refunds for him.
Mr Micallef himself told the court that he used to hand envelopes containing his companies' VAT returns to Mrs Galea, who would take them to the cash office. He admitted that in November 2008 he gave the accused a gift of €1,000, which he said was a Christmas gift to her and her children.
When giving evidence in 2009, Police Inspector Ivan Cilia had said that Mr Micallef had received €186,000 in VAT refunds, with much of the paperwork having been handled by Nigel Abela - the alleged mastermind behind the VAT fraud scandal.
Between October and December 2008 Mr Micallef handed four payments to Mr Abela for a total of €49,000. The case against Mr Micallef is still pending.
Ms Galea initially also told the court that the €1,000 were a gift, but later admitted that she had been told that this was a reward for her assistance with the VAT returns.
She also admitted that she used to check Mr Micallef's returns. She also used to check whether he had any outstanding balances with the VAT Department.
The court said there was no doubt that the accused used to help Mr Micallef and check whether he had outstanding balances with the VAT Department. For this, she accepted the reward of €1,000.
Mrs Galea's work at the VAT Department was not linked to the cash office, which was the office which received the tax returns and payments, but Mr Micallef used to hand the returns to Mrs Galea because she worked in the VAT department.
The court noted, however, that Mrs Galea's work as an inspector included customer care. The information she had given Mr Micallef about his returns and outstanding balances was the sort of information which anyone in customer care could give to taxpayers.
The court therefore concluded that there was no evidence that the accused had violated any confidentially rules.
In finding the accused guilty of receiving a gift she was not entitled to, the court jailed her for six months and ordered her to pay a fine of €1,000 and court fees of €1,226. She also received a general, perpetual interdiction.