The compilation of evidence in the Casino di Venezia fraud case commenced on Thursday, with three foreign men appearing in Court over fraud charges. 41-year-old Fabio Zulian from Turin, Italy, 58-year-old Gaetano Caramazza from Palermo, Sicily and 44-year-old Nevio Barut from Koper, Slovenia are being charged with fraudulently obtaining thousands of Maltese liri at the expense of Vittoriosa Gaming Limited, owner of the Casino.
Fabio Zulian and Gaetano Caramazza allegedly played at the Casino for three consecutive weekends with cheques belonging to a number of Italian banks as well as stolen bank drafts. In the process the Casino lost up to Lm 75,000 (€ 172,000, US$ 230,114).
Speaking in court, Inspector Antonovitch Muscat recounted how in December 2005, the three men allegedly defrauded Vittoriosa Gaming Limited, used counterfeit signatures, falsified documents and accepted stolen objects.
According to the Inspector, the men’s activities came to light during their second weekend in Malta a number of Italian banks carried out verifications on the cheques and bank drafts and discovered irregularities.
The inspector added that the signatures on the cheques belonged to two banks in Milan and Turin, with the cheques amounting to around Lm 150,200 (€350,000, US$461,054). Many of the cheques subsequently bounced with Casino di Venezia discovering so from the same Italian banks.
Magistrate Miriam Hayman presided over the court.
Earlier this year Casino di Venezia in Vittoriosa was forced to shut down after it had its license revoked. The license was revoked because of staff allegedly celebrating in an excessive manner during Italy’s World Cup Final 2006 win.
See also:
Casino di Venezia license revoked
By MaltaMedia News
Jul 20, 2006, 11:22 CET
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