A man who appears to have swindled a voluntary organization out of funds intended for a trip to Kenya, has been ordered to reimburse the money.

Alexandru Gabriel Cretu Torica had been contacted by voluntary organization ‘Ghollina’, represented in court by Olena Leontyeva, after it decided to invest in Bitcoins which could be redeemed anywhere around the world.

The organization was planning a trip to Kenya and the plan was to re-sell the Bitcoins while abroad, thus being able to utilize the money without the hassle of carrying cash or credit cards.

The NGO deposited some €3,000 into the man’s local bank account.

Although the organisation waited for the man to send the Bitcoin string into the e-wallet, this never materialised. Endless attempts to make contact with the defendant through e-mail and Whatsapp, proved futile. Finally all contact with the man was lost.

In a sitting before the Small Claims Tribunal, on October 30, 2017, Ms Leontyeva exhibited a number of documents to show that the defendant no longer resided in Malta. In that same sitting the tribunal appointed a curator to take up the case in his stead.

The adjudicator, Dr Claudio Zammit, after pointing out that this curator, though duly served with the acts of the proceedings, had not filed any reply and had not even appeared before the tribunal, concluded that the plaintiff’s claim had been sufficiently proved.

For this reason, the defendant was ordered to refund the €3,000 to the NGOwith interest from the date of judgment until the sum is effectively paid.