Lawyer found guilty of defrauding pensioner out of €25,000, given suspended sentence

A disqualified lawyer has been handed a two-year jail sentence suspended for four years after a court found him guilty of defrauding a client, using the money as a bank guarantee for a loan he had taken out.

Dr Reuben Micallef, who has since lost his warrant, was also given six months to pay back the remaining balance or else his sentence will become an effective one.

Dr Micallef, 41, from St Julians, faced a total of 12 charges, including defrauding a pensioner out of €25,634, misappropriation and forging documents.

The court heard how the lawyer had been approached by a certain Edwin Zammit, who lives in Wales, to open an unfair dismissal case before the Industrial Tribunal. The lawyer had asked Mr Zammit for a bank guarantee of Lm1,000 (€2,330) but had forged the document and the signatures on it and withdrawn Lm3,500 (€8,155)instead. Later on, he asked for another guarantee, this time for Lm7,500 (€17,475). The court heard how Mr Zammit did not know how to read or write. Dr Micallef knew this because Mr Zammit was a second cousin of his.

Subsequently, Dr Micallef had sent a copy of the tribunal sentence to Mr Zammit, showing that he had won the case. In reality, the lawyer had lost the case and had forged the copy of the sentence sent to Mr Zammit. A cheque for Lm18,000 (€41,940) – supposedly compensation Mr Zammit had won in court – also turned out to be forged.

In his initial police statement, Dr Micallef admitted asking Mr Zammit for a bank guarantee that was not required. He also admitted to having forged the signatures of Edwin Zammit and his sister on the bank documents and also that he had forged the tribunal sentence. Dr Micallef had also told police that he had given Mr Zammit’s sister a fake cheque, that he was sorry for what he had done and that he had started refunding Mr Zammit’s money.

A bank employee told the court that Dr Micallef had withdrawn both pledges to make good for an overdraft he had taken out to furnish his legal office.

When the accused was summoned to testify in court, he said this was a simple agreement between himself and Edwin Zam- mit, who had agreed to act as a guarantor on a loan he had. He said he had tried to pay him back but had got stuck. He said he had forged the tribunal sentence because he was ashamed to say he had lost the case.

Mr Zammit told the court that he had agreed that Dr Caruana would pay him back €1,000 per week but he stopped receiving payments after Lm4,300 (€10,019).

The court found Dr Micallef guilty of defrauding Mr Zammit, noting that he did not lack criminal determination and design to carry out this crime. In the process he had created a web of forged court rulings, cheques and guarantees.

Magistrate Miriam Hayman handed down a two-year jail term suspended for four years and gave Dr Micallef six months’ time to pay Mr Zammit the remaining €1,306 he owed Mr Zammit. He was warned that, if he failed to do so, the sentence would become effective. He was also fined €1,536 in court fees. The court noted that he has already been barred from the legal profession.

Inspector Jonathan Ferris prosecuted. Lawyer Stefano Filletti appeared for Mr Zammit.