A 46-year-old woman from Għaxaq was handed two year suspended sentence and fined €28,000 after she was found guilty of fraud, money laundering, and of failing to declare her income from fortune telling.

Maria Magdalena Sultana had also been charged in August 2021, as well as prior, for acquiring and using property which she knew or suspected that that same property was acquired from criminal activity.

Sultana’s fraud charges entailed that she made profit through a scam to the detriment of the Social Security Department and of making a false declaration to the Tax Commissioner.

Sultana was also accused of committing a crime between 2009 and 2021, where she was under two suspended prison sentences, two probation orders, two sentences in which she was released under condition, and a decree where she was released from arrest under various conditions.

The investigation, which was carried out by Inspector Joseph Xerri, revealed that between 2009 and 2020, Sultana played around €200,000 in casinos and created a Facebook profile under the name ‘Meg Sultana’ where she started offering a fortune telling service.

She had then started using another profile on Facebook, under the name ‘Fortune Teller’ where she offered fortune readings for the prices of €20 and €35.

During a search of her home, the police found a large amount of incense boxes, a packet of spices, bundles of fortune-telling cards, a Ouija board and two envelopes with €3,680 and €440 in cash in a drawer.

Several people have testified that they had gone for a fortune reading, some saying that they would pay her to do some magic on them or to bring a curse on others. She would not give them fiscal receipts.

A representative of Jobsplus testified that the last time Sultana worked was in December 2008, and a representative of the Department of Social Services said that between 2008 and 2021 she was paid €56,000 in benefits whilst representatives of the Tax Commissioner said that between 2008 and 2009, Sultana did not declare any income.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech said that in the last two years, Sultana was obliged to declare the income, but she did not do so.

She said that Sultana did not mind exploiting the vulnerability of people who sought for what they thought would be help.

Frendo Dimech also ordered the confiscation of the movable and immovable property in favour of the government, as well as the confiscation of €4,000 on which Sultana was released from arrest on another case.