A father and son have had an 18-month jail term converted to a suspended sentence on appeal. The two had been arraigned for alleged money laundering involving the purchase of three cars after the authorities became suspicious about the origin of the funds. 

Pensioner Alfred Delia, 72, living on social benefits, had allegedly purchased two luxury cars, a BMW Z4 and a BMW 530, while his son Marco, 51, was registered as the owner of a Pajero.

In the course of the proceedings it turned out that the father had acted as figurehead on the deed of transfer and that both BMWs had actually been paid for and used by another son, Freddie and the latter’s wife.

The other co-accused, Marco Delia, had paid one installment of some €4,600 on the €14,000 purchase price agreed upon for the Mitsubishi Pajero, which appeared to have been driven most often by another member of the Delia household, Roderick.

Both other relatives of the co-accused had, in the past, experienced various brushes with the law on drug-related activity and had even spent time behind bars.

Neither of the two co-accused could provide sufficient explanation for the source of the funds used to purchase the vehicles and apparently forked out by their relatives, the court observed.

This lack of a suitable explanation did nothing to dispel the suspect origin of the monies, thereby leading the appeals court to uphold the prosecution’s argument that the appellants had ‘a case to answer.’

Yet, after consulting social inquiry reports on both father and son and taking into account the fact that the two had intended to help their other relatives, the court of appeal, presided over by Mr Justice David Scicluna, concluded that a suspended sentence would be more appropriate.

Considering also that the father had an almost clean criminal record and that the son lived with his parents, had a stable job and had long kicked his drug habit, the court converted the effective sentence to an 18-month jail term suspended for four years.

The rest of the sentence, including the €5,000 fine due by each and the confiscation of the vehicles by the state, was to stand.

Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili were counsel to the appellants.