Dr Patrick Spiteri had been jailed for two years for forging the signature of John Debono and attempting to defraud George Muscat. The signature on a promise of sale regarding a piece of land in Wardija was not Dr John Debono’s, the notary who had supposedly signed it. The court noted that the signature was very similar, but a calligraphy expert declared it to be a forgery.

Spiteri claimed that he had made a genuine mistake and denied forging the notary’s signature. Presiding judge Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano said all the evidence pointed to Spiteri as the culprit. He noted that Spiteri had denied forging the signature, but did not blame anyone else for the crime.

Chief Justice Degaetano said Spiteri had claimed the document in question was a draft, yet it bore the words “certified true copy of original,” which are not usually found on a draft. The document with the forged signature was passed on to Mr Muscat.

The judge cleared Spiteri of attempted fraud because he was not convinced that he had given Mr Muscat the document with the forged signatures to trick him and save a fairly large sum of money, as the first court had claimed.

After passing judgement, Chief Justice Degaetano said the forging of signatures on a public document was a very serious crime, especially considering Spiteri is a lawyer.