A disbarred lawyer was today handed a suspended jail term after being found guilty of defrauding a client for testamentary research. 

Rueben Micallef was charged with misappropriating €7,000 given to him by his neighbour, who asked for searches relating to inheritance.  

In court, Martha Sammut explained that she had asked the lawyer to carry out legal research to determine whether she was entitled to any of her uncle's inheritance. She explained that despite paying him several times, the results of the research exercise were never handed over and that at one point the lawyer also claimed he was sick.

The court noted that the former lawyer has since reimbursed the money he misappropriated. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera handed down an 18-month jail term suspended for four years.

Just over two months ago, Mr Micallef was handed another two-year jail sentence suspended for four years after a court found him guilty of defrauding a client, using the money as a bank guarantee for a loan he had taken out.

On that occasion, Mr Micallef had faced a total of 12 charges, including that of defrauding a pensioner out of €25,600, misappropriation and forging documents.

Mr Micallef has lost his warrant and has been barred from practicing as a lawyer.