Former compliance officer at the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority (now the Malta Gaming Authority MGA), Iosif Galea has been sentenced to 30 months in prison by a German court.
Maltese police failed to arrest Galea and allowed him to travel to and from Malta for a year despite European arrest warrant
According to reports, Galea, a gaming consultant who was wanted by the police in Germany over tax evasion, was able to travel freely to and from Malta despite the warrant for his arrest. He was only apprehended while on holiday in Italy on a trip with former prime minister of Malta Joseph Muscat.
The German court found Galea guilty of tax evasion following an investigation that uncovered unpaid taxes of €1.7 million owed over a period of 32 months between 2017 and 2019. According to prosecutors, Galea failed to pay the 5% tax on his income from sports betting during that period. He must now spend 32 months in a Frankfurt prison.
A separate European arrest warrant for Galea has been issued by the Maltese authorities. This is in relation to his suspected involvement in the release of MGA insider information.
In related news, an internal police investigation, chaired by Judge Emeritus Franco Depasquale, with Judge Emeritus Geoffrey Valenzia and Captain Reuben Lanfranco as members, has found that two Malta Police Force officers failed to arrest Galea when given the opportunity to do so. Both officers had failed in their duty to apprehend Galea despite a European arrest warrant being issued by Germany over a year ago. However, the same investigation has found that no top level police officers were culpable in the case.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.