Visa corruption/fraud scandal: Joe Sammut released on bail; assets frozen

Joe Sammut, the former Labour Party treasurer who was Saadi and Mutassim Gaddafi’s personal accountant

Mosta-based accountant Joe Sammut has been given bail against a personal guarantee of €15,000 after being charged in court this morning with fraud, misappropriation of funds, money-laundering, falsifying documents and failure to conduct due diligence in line with ‘know your client’ rules.

He has pleaded ‘not guilty’.

Three of Sammut’s Libyan clients testified at this morning’s sitting. They said that the signatures on documents in their files at the Citizenship and Expatriate Affairs Department were not theirs, nor were the identity card details. They said they had never seen those documents before.

They also said that Sammut had never given them receipts for the thousands of euros they paid him in fees, except for one who said that he had been given a sort of receipt through the mobile messaging app, Viber, only after expressly requesting it.

The court ordered the freezing of Sammut’s assets. He has been cautioned not to approach any potential witnesses. These include his employees, who have been ordered to testify on 3 September.

Joe Sammut’s defence team is made up of criminal lawyer Michael Schiriha, former Nationalist Party candidate Martin Fenech and former Labour Party candidate Simon Micallef Stafrace.