A man ended up with just a suspended sentence after a 12-year-long court process over charges of illegally importing 15 million contraband cigarettes.
Arthur Ciancio, 65, and his son Aaron Ciancio, 45, both from Mellieħa, were accused over their involvement in the criminal racket, which resulted in the massive haul back in 2005. The contraband merchandise was worth some €593,000 and was liable to €1.5 million in excise duty and a further €377,000 in VAT.
An anonymous tip-off had alerted the police to the imminent arrival of the merchandise, which was eventually seized by customs officials on Easter Saturday in March 2005.
The relative bills of lading of the two container described them as carrying promotional toys and giftware respectively for two Maltese companies which, upon subsequent investigations, turned out to be non-existent.
The first container yielded 421 master cases, each containing 10,000 Regal brand cigarettes. The second container turned out to be carrying 726 cases of contraband merchandise.
A false e-mail trail from a sender, purporting to be a local representative of the China Shipping company, was traced to an IP address in the name of the accused Arthur Ciancio. These e-mails had instructed the Freeport Authorities that the status of the containers had been changed from ‘local import’ to ‘in transit’, with the shipment being redirected to the UK.
The defence lawyer assisting the accused argued that the shipment had never been imported into Malta, the cargo having been re-designated as a transhipment destined for another port. Taxes are not due in Malta when the containers enter the Malta Freeport for transhipment purposes.
The situation would have been very different if the containers had been on land when they were intercepted by the police
However, court experts testified that Arthur Ciancio had altered the documents so as to show the cargo as toys and giftware in order to avoid the much higher importation tax on cigarettes.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, observed that from the documents exhibited, the contraband merchandise had not been destined for the local market. Indeed, the change in status had been requested before the police intervened.
“The request was made by means of a fraudulent e-mail in February while the container was seized in March” the court observed.
“The situation would have been very different if the containers had been on land when they were intercepted by the police,” concluded the court.
On the basis of the evidence put forward, the court declared that the prosecution had not proved the alleged involvement and conspiracy of Arthur Ciancio in the illegal importation of the cigarettes.
“The court is not saying that there is no crime... but it cannot find him guilty of importation since he never intended to import such merchandise into Malta.”
Ciancio had fabricated documents with the intention of misleading the Maltese authorities and had set up a false e-mail trail to throw the police off track
On the other hand, a court expert confirmed that Arthur Ciancio had fabricated documents with the intention of misleading the Maltese authorities and had set up a false e-mail trail to throw the police off track.
For this reason, the court declared Arthur Ciancio guilty of forgery, falsification of documents and making use of false documents, condemning him to a jail term of two years, suspended for four years.
With respect to Aaron Ciancio, the court observed that the prosecution had failed to prove its charges, adding that the fact that he was the son of the accused Arthur and lived in the same house did not mean that he was guilty.
“It brought not one piece of evidence in regard to Aaron Ciantar that he was in any way involved in the crime,” concluded the court, acquitting the son.
The court ordered the confiscation of the contraband merchandise.
Lawyer Kathleen Calleja Grima was counsel to Arthur Ciancio, while lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia were counsel to Aaron Ciancio.