An employee at the Social Security Department was arraigned in Court yesterday in connection with a children’s allowance scam which allegedly yielded more than Lm20,000.

Maria Victoria Attard, 32, of Cospicua, was charged that on 13 May and in the previous months, she accessed and modified data without permission and used a computer password without permission, harming the discharge of some government activity or public service in the process.

She was also accused of frauding more than Lm20,000 to the detriment of the government of Malta, as well as misusing and misappropriating money and other documents while she was a public officer.

Moreover, she was accused of falsifying signatures and public documents, and tampering with public documents.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges presented against her in Court. Asked to justify her arraignment, the prosecution said that the accused had confessed to all the charges.

Moreover, the police had been investigating for a whole week together with the social security department and MITTS.

The prosecution says it has logs and other computer data which prove its case. If found guilty, the accused can face up to 23 years in jail, a Lm50,000 fine and interdiction for life.

The court upheld the defence’s request for bail against a deposit of Lm1,500 and a personal guarantee of Lm3,000.

The accused was also ordered to sign daily at the Cospicua police station, stay at home between 8 pm and 8 am, and not to approach in any way the prosecution’s witnesses.

Duty Magistrate Lawrence Quintano presided over the Magistrates’ Court.

Police Inspector Ian Joseph Abdilla prosecuted, while Dr Ludwig Caruana assisted the accused.