A BANKRUPT who didn't come clean to the Official Receiver about a flat he had formerly owned in Malta, has kept his freedom.

Burnley Crown Court heard how former builder Anthony Holian, 40, had got rid of the property to a Maltese neighbour he owed cash to and should have disclosed that he had owned it within the last five years, although it would have made no difference to his creditors of he had.

Holian, a father-of-three, was conditionally discharged for 12 months by Judge Raymond Bennett, who said the defendant had never been in trouble before and he was quite satisfied it was not one of those cases where he had deliberatly set out to defraud people from the beginning.

The judge said under Maltese law nothing could have been done to reverse the transaction once it was completed.

He added that had Holian made the disclosure about the flat, it would not have made any difference anyway to the assets available to satisfy creditors in any bankruptcy adjudication.

Holian, of Glen Cottage, Rainhall Crescent, Barnoldswick, whose home has been repossessed, had admitted being a bankrupt who failed to disclose a property to a trustee.

John 0'Shea, prosecuting for the Department of Trade and Industry,.said Holian had been in partnership with his wife in a business maintaining and renovating property but, by June 1997, it was no longer viable, ceased to trade and a large number of debts had built up.

In 1988, Holian had taken out a Barclays Bank loan of £10,000 to buy the Maltese flat, to be paid back at £100 a month , but later fell into arrears.

The bank became concerned about the amount of debts , decided to take action and in November 1998, a money judgement for more than £54,000 was made against the Holians at Liverpool District Registry.

Mark Stuart, defending, said Holian, who ran several boys and girls youth football teams in Barnoldswick, was qualifying as a football coach and hoped to work part-time.

He once earned a decent living as a builder, but fell off a ladder in 1993 and didn't work for three years.