Disgraced lawyer Patrick Spiteri could end up not facing justice over a string of high profile fraud cases because he is seriously ill.

In the last sitting of a case in which Dr Spiteri stands accused of defrauding an Italian businessman of almost €5 million, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, at the request of the prosecution, decided to postpone the case indefinitely, pending any changes to the former financial lawyer’s health.

Sources said Dr Spiteri is in London for treatment for the onset of multiple sclerosis. Doctors have certified he is not in a position to travel back, which means the same postponement will likely apply to another eight pending criminal cases.

Almost all of the pending cases are connected to charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds from investors who accuse Dr Spiteri of swindling them out of millions of euros.

“The truth is most of these cases are exceptionally complex. Investigators spent a lot of time following the money and the trail very often ended up in places like the Channel Islands and other such tax havens which will not cooperate with probes coming from outside their jurisdiction.

“The cases were also delayed because Patrick Spiteri changed his lawyers several times. Every time that happened, his new defence team would ask for some time to study the case.”

The flip side of the situation is that his alleged victims are left feeling doubly cheated. Italian businessman Nicola Sarno, who is himself unwell with advanced symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, had invested some €4.8 million with Dr Spiteri back in 1992. In the first years, up until around 1997, the investment paid off handsomely but when trouble started brewing for Dr Spiteri, Mr Sarno, alerted by a Maltese friend, made enquiries about his investment and it became clear there was a serious problem.

Mr Spiteri allegedly made several promises to return the money and in December 2000 even signed a private deed in which he undertook to pay the entire €4.8 million within six months.

But the money never materialised and the case ended in court with the police moving with misappropriation charges.

We understand at this point that the money is probably never going to come back

Mr Sarno’s partner Annamaria Cicalese said: “We understand at this point that the money is probably never going to come back but Patrick Spiteri is basically not going to pay for what he did to Nicola and others. It’s not fair and it’s not justice,” she said. “Nicola only expects justice, and he fears he will not live to see that. I am no doctor and this is not a professional opinion but I feel that the blow from this case triggered the onset of his (Mr Sarno’s) condition,” she added.

For years Dr Spiteri, now 49, ran a successful investments firm and was hailed a leading expert on tax law. He advised the Fenech Adami administration on the introduction of Value Added Tax in 1995 and then also consulted Labour a year later on the changeover to the Customs and Excise Tax alternative.

All that changed towards the end of the 1990s when he started being investigated in relation to multiple cases of fraud and misappropriation, which led to at least 11 criminal cases against him.

In spite of this, he has so far only ever been found guilty of one case, in which he forged a property contract complete with a notary’s signature to make it seem as though he had paid in full for a property on which he still owed some €100,000.

In another two decided cases before Magistrate Scerri Herrera, he was acquitted.