Extradited Italian says he cannot be accused of money laundering

An Italian man who has been extradited from Italy to face charges of defrauding the Casino di Venezia in Vittoriosa this morning said that he could not be charged with money laundering because the Italian courts had extradited him over limited charges which did not include money laundering. Fabio Zulian, 47, was originally charged in 2006 along with two other men – Gaetano Caramazza, 65, and Slovenian Nevio Barut, 50. They allegedly defrauded the Casino di Venezia of €172,000 when they made use of stolen bank drafts and forged cheques to gamble and then cashed in the winnings. Mr Zulian then went back to Italy after the arraignment. Mr Caramazza committed suicide and Mr Barut filed a guilty plea and was jailed for three years and fined €7,000 in 2007. Mr Zulian was extradited through a European Arrest Warrant and has been in custody in Malta since October 2011. In court this morning, defence lawyers Stefano Filletti and Joe Brincat argued that when Italy sent him back, the list of charges on the extradition documents made no mention of money laundering, Therefore, the charge in Malta had to be dropped. The lawyers said that if the charge was not dropped by the Attorney General...