A car dealer who was charged with tampering with fiscal receipts to claim higher refunds from the VAT department has been acquitted.

The court heard how 48-year-old Charles Bianco, from Birkirkara, submitted two receipts which the VAT Department suspected had been tampered with. The department launched an investigation, believing that Mr Bianco, director of Western Company Limited, had tampered with the receipts to claim a higher refund.

According to the VAT inspectors, the receipts were altered in such a way that €60 was changed to €6,000 and a €35 receipt was altered to read €8,350.

The VAT department confronted the accused, who denied the allegations. He said the receipts were handed over to him by Joseph Grima known as 'il-Vasu'. The latter is a former business partner who had left the partnership after running up €1.7 million in debts.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that although the department had traced the original receipts, these documents were never produced as evidence in court. In fact, the criminal proceedings had been based upon investigations carried out by the VAT department only.

The court declared that in criminal proceedings, copies of original documents are only admissible as secondary evidence when authenticated. In this case, they were not. “This cardinal principle could not be overlooked,” the court added.

Magistrate Herrera criticized the prosecution’s shortcomings and ruled that the accused is not guilty of the charges related to fraud.

Inspector Maurice Curmi led the prosecution. Lawyers Michael and Lucio Sciriha were defence counsel.