A businessman was yesterday cleared of charges of misappropriation and fraud after the court ruled that the prosecution had not proven its case.

Joseph Abela, 54, from Iklin, was originally charged with misappropriating over Lm1,100 which he accepted as payment for adverts which had never been booked and with defrauding John Lee, the owner of two restaurants.

The court, presided over by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, heard how in September 1998, John Lee gave Mr Abela just over Lm1,100 and commissioned him to book a few adverts for his restaurants. However, no adverts had been booked, published or broadcast. As a result, Mr Lee approached the police who started their investigations.

The court heard that Mr Abela had been caught up with other work and did not manage to carry out this promotional campaign. Subsequently, he had tried contacting Mr Lee to inform him of the latest development but to no avail.

Handing down her judgement, Magistrate Scerri Herrera ruled that the prosecution had not managed to prove the misappropriation change and neither that of fraud. She therefore cleared him of the charges brought against him.

Superintendent Alexandra Mamo prosecuted.