A VAT inspector who was involved in VAT fraud worth €10 million was given a six-month jail term by Magistrate Doreen Clark.

The case goes back to 2009.

Liliana Galea, 33, from Marsascala has been jailed, fined €1,000 and given a general and perpetual interdiction for accepting a bribe in her capacity of a public official. She was, however, acquitted of disclosing confidential information. She also has to pay court fees of €1,226.

It turns out that the accused accepted the bribe to speed up the process of issuing VAT refunds for her uncle, Saviour Micallef.

The court heard that Ms Galea worked in the customer care department alongside Carmel Deguara, who testified in the case. Mr Deguara said that the accused gave him envelopes to give to her uncle. He also said that the accused’s uncle gave her money for speeding up matters.

On taking the witness stand, Mr Micallef admitted bribing his niece and that he gave her €1,000 at Christmas time in 2008. Initially, Ms Galea said the money was a present however later on she changed her version and said that it was the first time her uncle gave her €1,000 and that he gave her the money for helping him.

Before handing down its judgement, the court considered the nature of the crime and that the accused does not have a criminal record.

Police inspector Ian Abdilla prosecuted.