Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1378870
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 MAY 2021 NEWS 15 TH INTERNATIONAL SPRING ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS DEgenErAteS 15-19 JUNE 2021 www.iso-festival.com www.iso-festival.com Adrian Hillman charged with money laundering, bribery and fraud, gets bail MATTHEW AGIUS ADRIAN Hillman, the former Allied Newspapers managing director, was charged in court on Saturday with a raft of financial crimes. Hillman pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, conspiracy to commit a crime, defrauding Progress Press, mak- ing fraudulent gain, making a false decla- ration to a public authority and accepting bribes as a managing director of Allied Newspapers and chairman of Progress Press. He was granted bail against a deposit of €50,000 and a personal guarantee of €100,000. All of his assets above €13,000 were frozen by the court, upon the re- quest of the prosecution. Charges were also filed against two of his companies - Lester Holdings and Net- work Overseas Limited. He returned to Malta from the UK on Friday following an extradition request and upon his arrival, he was questioned by police at the Financial Crimes Investi- gation Department in the presence of his lawyer Stefano Filletti. In compelling bail submissions on Sat- urday, Filletti stressed that Hillman had surrendered himself voluntarily to the British police and cooperated fully. "In his first sitting in court in the UK, Hillman was faced with the order of re- turn, but had not been given a copy of all the paperwork. The case was put off once," said the lawyer. "After he saw the charges for the first time, at the first opportunity, he gave himself up and signed a consent form. Is this behaviour of a person causing trou- ble?" He insisted that there was nothing to show that Hillman had escaped from Mal- ta. Hillman has dual citizenship – British and Maltese. "Rather, he gave a reason. His wife had been awarded a fellowship [in England], while he lost his job. This was a result of testimony in court. It is impossible for him to find work today as everyone on the in- ternet knows who Adrian Hillman is by now… What the police didn't say was that Hillman did return to Malta in October to visit family. The truth is that nobody want- ed to hear his version," Filletti argued. The lawyer acknowledged that Hillman had refused to answer police questions on Friday but insisted that the police were speaking to him after having already made the decision to charge him. "Anything he said would have been pointless as the decision was already tak- en to prosecute. Where in the Criminal Code is there a positive obligation on people to come forward and speak? The police wanted him yesterday [Friday] not to speak to him but to charge him," Fillet- ti insisted to Magistrate Doreen Clarke. Hillman's charges are linked to the pur- chase of printing machines by the Allied Group when he was managing director. An investigation has revealed how Hill- man received €650,000 from former prime minister Joseph Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri, who owns the company Kasco that supplied the printing press. But testimony given by police suggests that Hillman could have received some €1 million in unexplained payments through offshore companies. Earlier this year, the police charged 11 people, including Schembri and Vince Bu- hagiar, another former managing director at Allied Newspapers, on multiple counts of money laundering, forgery, fraud and corruption. Charges were also filed against Schem- bri's business partners and his account- ants, Brian Tonna and Karl Cini from Nexia BT. The owners of MFSP, renamed Zenith Finance, were also charged for handling the investment accounts belonging to Hill- man and Buhagiar through which the al- leged graft money flowed. The prosecution is led by inspectors Jo- seph Xerri and Lianne Bonello. They are aided by AG lawyers Antoine Agius Bon- nici, Andrea Zammit and Sean Xerri de Caro. Magistrate Doreen Clarke presided. Adrian Hillman being escorted into court by police