Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1141804
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 JULY 2019 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In the strong-worded designa- tions, the Maltese government said the two men had "consist- ently attempted to undermine the peace, stability, and se- curity of Libya" with their in- volvement in the oil smuggling crime ring. But explanations for the Rus- sian non-cooperation so far can only be pinned down to cool relations since Malta refused permission to Russian military aircraft to fly through its air- space back in April, en route to Venezuela. Malta turned down two re- quests by the Russians to fly military aircraft from Syria to Venezuela over Maltese air- space, after the US government said an Antonov 124 which flew over Malta earlier in March had arrived in Caracas with Russian personnel wearing desert cam- ouflage uniforms and baseball caps similar, if not identical, to the ones commonly seen on the Kremlin's troops in Syria. Malta's attempts at securing the UN sanctions underpin the international concern over the 'Wild West' of oil smuggling that takes place on the terri- torial edge of Malta's Hurd's Bank, where Libyan oil is trans- ferred onto fishing boats with large storage tanks, and is then transferred onto larger tankers. Operation Dirty Oil The €30 million fuel smug- gling operation, which used false invoices intended to cov- er the origin of the Libyan oil, used Maltese ships and Italian connections to place the fuel on the market. A two-year investigation by Italian police, dubbed Opera- tion Dirty Oil, revealed that Darren Debono and Gordon Debono would participate in "summits" in Italy with broker Marco Porta, and then meet Bin Khalifa in Libya. In a bid to hide the illicit ori- gin of the fuel being bunkered out at sea, Gordon Debono would use the company Pe- troplus Ltd to issue false in- voices; while Darren Debono and Sicilian associate Nicola Orazio Romeo would use the company Oceano Blu Trading Ltd, as well as other offshore companies in the British Vir- gin Islands, to hide the flow of money used to pay Bin Khalifa. Once the fuel was bunkered at sea, and then acquired by Porta's Maxcom Bunker SpA in Italy, Porta would use Pe- troplus's false documentation to hide the origin of the fuel – documents which were, pos- sibly unknowingly, validated by the Libyan Maltese Chamber of Commerce. Debono was intercepted coor- dinating the movements of the ships involved in the bunkering of the Libyan oil, showing he had a handle on the shipping movements carrying the smug- gled fuel. Another interception, this time of Marco Porta and a Maxcom employee, makes reference to suspect Nicola Orazio Romeo's connections to the Sicilian underworld. Ro- meo, linked to the Mafia clan of Santapaola-Ercolano, was re- vealed by the Panama Papers of having had offshore companies at the same San Gwann address as Debono's ADJ Trading, the firm in which both Debono and Bin Khalifa were once share- holders. "Nicola is part of the real underworld, the one nobody touches," Porta tells a col- league. "He's always being tapped when he is in Sicily." In the process, Debono was hit by United States sanctions, affecting his ships, businesses, and bank accounts. His flagship restaurant in Valletta, Scoglitti, was also blacklisted, leading to a change in trading name. Debono ship deregistration Debono had a partial victory in courts in May when Mr Jus- tice Mark Chetcuti dismissed arguments against the sus- pected fuel smuggler's bid to halt the de-flagging of six of his fishing vessels. The Registrar General of Ships and Sailors and Minis- ter for Transport, Infrastruc- ture and Capital Projects had planned to strike off six vessels belonging to Debono. But the action was stopped af- ter Debono filed an injunction, protesting that stateless vessels lose all their rights, including the EU fishing licence. In his decree, the judge not- ed that the measure would be "draconian and premature" in view of the fact that the crimi- nal case against Debono was yet to be decided. Debono also said he employed six persons on every fishing boat and that their livelihoods were at stake. While Debono obtained a warrant of prohibitory injunc- tion against the de-flagging of the vessels and asked the court to confirm it to prevent irreme- diable damage to his crews on the six vessels, the court dis- missed the pleas of the trans- port ministry. The court is expected to give a final decision on the merits of the case in the coming weeks. Senglea FC role Debono's re-entry in society, even while facing charges of fuel smuggling in Italy, has now seen him elected to the com- mittee of the Maltese Premier league side Senglea Athletic FC. Senglea's president is the no- tary Reuben Debono, a part- owner of the FES Group plc, which recently issued a €5 mil- lion bond to finance its bou- tique hotel projects. Darren Debono, a former Val- letta FC and Malta internation- al footballer, was photographed with the Senglea president, for- mer Hibs keeper and now Sen- glea coach Mario Muscat, and NEWS Professional Officer - Draughtsperson Jobplus Permit Number – 543/2019 Related qualification at Diploma level (Level 5) or equivalent or higher. Minimum 5 years proven experience in draughtsmanship. CAREER OPPORTUNITY WE ARE RECRUITING ESSENTIAL Qualifications Experience Interested persons are kindly requested to submit a letter of application and a detailed CV only by email, as one pdf document to: hr.la@landsauthority. org.mt by Monday 29th July 2019. Emails are to indicate the position being applied for and the name of the applicant in the subject. Applications will be acknowledged and treated in strictest confidence. For more information visit the link below: https://landsauthority.org.mt/about-us/careers/ Lands Authority is seeking applications from interested persons to fill the following position: OR Russia prevents Malta sanctions on fuel smugglers