A court heard yesterday how public notary Sandro Schembri Adami allegedly took money from clients wanting to buy property, claiming that the payment was to go towards the stamp duty owed on the property and yet this tax was never paid.

Dr Schembri Adami, aged 41, from Valletta, who is also charged with forging signatures in separate proceedings, appeared in court yesterday to answer to two charges of misappropriation of funds entrusted to him – amounting to a global amount of Lm4,425.

The compilation of evidence of the two separate cases both began yesterday. The court was told, first by prosecuting inspector Ian Abdilla and later by inspector Helga Debono, how the notary took money from clients when he drew up the promise of sale, claiming that the payment was to go towards paying one per cent of the stamp duty.

In the first case, Dr Schembri Adami was accused of misappropriating Lm3,100 in April this year to the detriment of Raymond and Mary Grace Cachia and the Maltese government. He was also charged with committing a crime he was duty-bound to prevent.

Raymond Cachia, one of the alleged injured parties, took the stand yesterday. He said he filed a police report regarding irregularities in the work carried out by Dr Schembri Adami when he hired the notary to draw up a promise of sale and a contract regarding the purchase of some property by Mr Cachia in Hamrun.

“Both documents were drawn up and signed, and I am actually residing in the premises I bought, yet to date, the place is not registered in my name because Dr Schembri Adami failed to pass the documents on for ownership to be transferred,” he said.

Mr Cachia added that the duty on the property had not been paid, even though he had given the notary the money to pay it and the cheques had been cashed. He said that the first payment he passed to Dr Schembri Adami was for Lm670 when the promise of sale was drawn up and signed on 15 July 2004. “This constituted one per cent of the stamp duty, or so he told me,” said Mr Cachia.

On 15 December 2004, Mr Cachia said he signed the contract and paid the notary another Lm2,130 for the remainder of the taxes he owed on the Hamrun residence. “I also gave Dr Schembri Adami an additional Lm250 for his services and also for the contract to be registered,” he added.

Mr Cachia said that on 18 February this year, Bank of Valletta sent him a letter informing him that the documents of registration in respect of his newly-purchased home had not yet arrived. He said he was not charged the extra one per cent, as is usually the case when the transfer of ownership is not carried through, because several similar cases had been reported in connection with Dr Schembri Adami.

“I tried to call Dr Schembri Adami about this and he would often hang up on me or tell me he could not speak to me at that moment. When I did actually speak to him, he would assure me it was not a problem and he would have the contract registered very soon. I even met him in the street once and told him once again about the registration. He said he could fix the problem but since then, I never saw him again,” said Mr Cachia.

He added that Dr Schembri Adami’s failure to pass on a cheque he had given him caused him to have an argument with the previous owner of his new home. “I gave the notary a cheque to pass on to Paul Demanuele, my new property’s previous owner, and the money never reached its destination. As a result, I clashed with Mr Demanuele,” he said, noting that his new home is still registered in Mr Demanuele’s name.

At the end of the sitting, presiding magistrate Giovanni Grixti ruled that sufficient prima facie evidence had been presented for a bill of indictment to be drawn up against Dr Schembri Adami regarding this case.

In the second case against the notary, he was accused of misappropriating a total of Lm1,325 in funds entrusted to him by Alfio Mirabile, who wanted to buy a flat in Marsascala.

Filippo Mirabile, the father of the man wanting to buy the property in question, took the stand and explained how he passed money on to the notary and, as in the previous case, the tax the money was supposed to go towards was not paid.

Mr Mirabile explained how he hired Dr Schembri Adami to handle the purchase of the Marsascala flat from Mario Dimech. He gave the accused a cheque for one per cent of the stamp duty owed and also mentioned that the bank told him to employ another notary because it did not want to work with Dr Schembri Adami.

The witness said the notary told him it would be more viable to pay all the tax owed on the new property and therefore Mr Mirabile gave him all the money owed, amounting to Lm1,325.

“Dr Schembri Adami said the stamp duty had been paid, but I was never given a receipt,” he said. Mr Mirabile added that he later appointed another notary to act for him and received a receipt for payment of the stamp duty within a few days.

He pointed out that after he had filed a police report regarding this incident, Dr Schembri Adami returned all the money he had paid him. The cheques had been cashed, but the notary still repaid the Mirabiles in full.

The case has been deferred to July, when more evidence against Dr Schembri Adami will be brought before the court.

Dr Stefano Filletti is appearing for the accused.