An employee of the Arts and Culture Department, which is now known as the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, was given a two-year jail term, suspended for three years, after he admitted misappropriating Lm1,225 to the detriment of the department in September last year.

Aldo Cutajar, 40, from Mtarfa, had been accused of misappropriating Lm1,225 in department funds that had been entrusted to him as an employee on 18 September 2004 and the previous months.

On Wednesday, he chose to plead guilty to the charges and was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three.

The court also ordered him to be perpetually interdicted.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima presided over the court while inspector Angelo Gafa’ prosecuted.