A man was yesterday put on probation for three years after pleading guilty to circulating forged banknotes.

Brian Pace, 27, from Marsascala pleaded guilty to circulating forged Maltese lira banknotes in January 2006 and before. He also pleaded guilty to being in possession of forged banknotes, using the said notes to fraudulently purchase petrol from various pumps around Malta and of relapsing in view of previous convictions.

The court noted that the charge of relapsing could not stand due to the accused’s last offence being committed more than five years ago. The court also took into account a pre-sentencing report which said that the accused had made great progress and recommended that a prison sentence would not be ideal punishment.

Magistrate Lawrence Quintano therefore put the accused on probation for three years. Police inspector Ian Abdilla prosecuted while Dr Jason Azzopardi and Dr Kris Busietta appeared for the accused.