Four company directors were cleared of misappropriating Lm31,064 owed in VAT after a court heard that they were owed this sum of money, and more, by government departments.

Anthony Bartolo, 43, of Attard, Steven Borg, 30, of Swieqi, Mario Pickard, 44, of Msida and Mario Fenech, 42, of Bugibba, had been accused of misappropriating Lm31,064 in money owed to the VAT department between July 1999 and March 2001.

The four men were directors of Ideal Dwellings (Turnkey) Ltd. Mr Borg testified that the company worked on an accrual system and therefore VAT would sometimes be owed before they had collected the money from the sales and contracts they had drawn up.

He said that the amount of money owed to the VAT department was in turn owed to the company by a number of government departments, such as the Education Department. Due to the delay in these payments being made, all four ended up being accused of misappropriating the funds.

Mr Borg said the company was owed over Lm100,000 by government departments and noted that he had intended paying the VAT owed when this money was handed over to him.

The court made the point that the men were never given money that was used for any particular purpose and once they were paid the money they were owed, the VAT debts were settled immediately.

In view of this, all of the four men were cleared of all charges.

Inspector Ian Joseph Abdilla prosecuted.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera presided over the court.