Extradited man not guilty of internet fraud

A 41-year-old man extradited from Spain to Cyprus for an internet fraud case was found innocent at Paphos district court on Monday.

The judge said the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence to prove he had stolen €17,850.

The 41-year-old was facing charges of obtaining money by false pretences, money laundering, theft and causing the loss of property through a computer, which were believed to be carried out in October 2020.

He was arrested in Madrid and extradited to Cyprus on August 25, 2022 for the court case.

According to the report filed by a Paphos resident, he had reached out to a gardening company to do some work in his home. As part of the deal, the man sent €17,850 as an advance through a bank transfer.

The man in Paphos later received an email telling him to cancel the transfer because the company could not receive the sum of money, which he did. Consequently, he reported he got another email with details on a bank account in the Netherlands, where he was asked to send the money.

He told court that after transferring the funds, he realised the company did not have an account in the Netherlands and it was a scam.

The prosecution brought five witnesses to the stand. The police investigator, the head of the company which struck a deal with the Paphos resident, a bank employee who spoke about the money transfer, the garden company employee which was in immediate contact with the complainant and lastly, the complainant himself.

Court subsequently cleared him of all charges saying the weight of proving the offences lay on the prosecution.

“The inadequacy of the testimony presented by the prosecution to prove its primary position that the accused stole the disputed amount of €17,850 lead the case to fail.”

Court still maintained its doubts over the man’s guilt and thus decided in his favour, thus clearing him of charges and finding him innocent.