A 53-year-old Italian restaurateur who was extradited to Malta under a European Arrest Warrant to face allegations of more than €2.4 million in tax fraud and money laundering has been granted bail.

Giuseppe Napolitano, the owner of the Storie e Sapori restaurants in St Julian's and Gżira is pleading not guilty to the charges. 

Napolitano had initially been denied bail when he was arraigned after being extradited from Italy. During those proceedings, his defence team had argued that he intended to repay the taxes allegedly owed through a legal mechanism introduced last year. The court had also upheld a freezing order over his assets.

However, Napolitano was granted bail by Magistrate Leonard Caruana less than a week after his arraignment following a request by his defence filed on 17 July.

In its decree, the court noted the defence's submission that during the extradition proceedings in Italy, Napolitano had been placed under house arrest by the Italian courts and had fully complied with all the conditions imposed on him.

The defence also contended that before his extradition, Napolitano had already communicated with the Maltese police to arrange his return to Malta so he could face the charges and cooperate with the prosecution.

The court also considered the prosecution's concerns, noting that Napolitano had been absent from Malta for the past 18 months and that the charges against him were serious and involved a considerable amount of money.

Magistrate Caruana concluded that Napolitano had demonstrated a degree of reliability throughout the judicial process. The court observed that nothing had prevented him from remaining in hiding or attempting to evade both the Italian and Maltese authorities during the extradition proceedings, yet he had not done so.

The court granted bail against a €10,000 deposit and a €50,000 personal guarantee.

As part of the bail conditions, Napolitano must report to the Naxxar Police Station four times weekly and obey a nightly curfew . An exception was made for days when he is working at the Storie e Sapori restaurant in Gżira, allowing him to remain at the establishment until 12:30am. 

The court warned that any breach of the imposed conditions would result in the revocation of bail, the issuance of an arrest warrant and the forfeiture of the guarantees.

Attorney General lawyers Claire Sammut, and Mauro Abela prosecuted, together with Inspector Shamus Woods.

Lawyers Jason Azzopardi, Kris Busietta, and Alessandro Farrugia appeared for the accused. Magistrate Leonard Caruana presided over the case.