Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1345126
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS Delivery fee of just €1 per day for orders up to 5 newspapers per address To subscribe 1. Email us your choice of newspapers, recipient's name, address, contact number to production @millermalta.com 2. Forward cheques payable to Miller Distributors Ltd on address: Miller House, Airport Way, Tarxien Road, Luqa LQA1814 Queries on other news- papers and magazines, production@ millermalta.com maltatoday Same-day delivery of your favourite Sunday newspaper Monday-Friday MaltaToday Midweek • €1 BusinessToday • €1.50 Sunday MaltaToday • €1.95 ILLUM • €1.25 Support your favourite newspaper with a subscription https://bit.ly/2X9csmr Cases 22,219 Active 2,651 Recoveries 19,255 Deaths 313 Swabs 695,192 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The subject persons includ- ed Keith Schembri and his wife Josette Schembri Vella, his par- ents; his new logistics company in Bulebel, Navis, as well as its directors Malcolm Scerri and his relatives; the Kasco group of companies owned by Schem- bri, with its various subsidiaries; GSV Co, and other related com- panies run by Kasco directors such as ThoughtZone Limited and Acumen Projects; Brian Tonna, his spouse and children, as well as all partners in the Nex- ia BT group, Manuel Castagna, Karl Cini; Nexia-related com- panies like Smartsites Limited, NBT Technology, Eximus Busi- ness Malta and Eximus Business Aviation Private; other subjects such as blockchain consultant Anton Dalli and a host of Nexia BT partners, employees and their families; the ofshore companies Willerby Trade (BVI), Hold- forth (Cyprus), Malmos (Gi- braltar), Colson Services (BVI), SPX Services (BVI); private Ton- na-owned companies SOPNIF and AWNY Properties, and Zon- qor Estates amongst others. A host of magisterial inquiries were launched in the wake of revelations by assassinated jour- nalist Daphne Caruana Galizia that Tonna's BT International, an accredited agent of the Indi- vidual Investor Programme, had handled the purchase of Maltese citizenship for a Russian family. Using his own Willerby Trade as an introducer, Tonna invoiced BT International for 50% of the fees. According to a leaked re- port by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU), Tonna transferred two €50,000 pay- ments through Pilatus Bank to Schembri. Operation Green was the title of the police investigation into Schembri and Tonna. Both men have denied any wrongdoing and said the €100,000 was the repay- ment of a personal loan given to Tonna by Schembri while the former underwent separation proceedings. The same FIAU report also raised suspicions of the loan document presented to the bank to justify the payments after finding no trace of the origi- nal loan payment by Schembri to Tonna. Nexia BT was a corporate advi- sory firm that previously served as the Mossack Fonseca agents in the country, the Panamanian firm at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal. Through man- aging director Brian Tonna and partner Karl Cini, the firm set up the offshore structures of Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. According to one e-mail found in the Panama Papers, Schem- bri and Mizzi were set to receive payments of up to $2 million from 17 Black, the UAE company owned by Yorgen Fenech, who stands accused of conspiring to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Nexia BT also played a role in selecting the operator for Malta's new gas-fired power station, the Electrogas consortium of which Fenech formed part. Apart from setting up two off- shore firms for Schembri, the firm played a central figure in the Egrant saga, a mysterious third offshore company which Tonna insisted belonged to him, and not, as alleged, to former prime minister Joseph Muscat. A magisterial inquiry in 2018 could not find sufficient proof as to whether the company could have been intended for Muscat. Nexia partner remains on police bail Nexia BT partners Brian Tonna and Karl Cini