Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1449240
NEWS 4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 9 FEBRUARY 2022 In the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts in England and Wales Insolvency and Companies List (ChD) CR-2022-000218 and CR-2022-000217 In the matter of FISCHER MALTA LTD (company number C68408) And in the matter of FISCHER MARKETING MALTA LTD (company number C73574) and in the Matter of the Insolvency Act 1986, Applications for an administration order pursuant to Paragraph 12(1)(b) of Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in relation to FISCHER MALTA LTD (company number C68408) and FISCHER MARKETING MALTA LTD (company number C73574), both of 60/2, Melita Street, Valletta, VLT 1122, Malta, issued on 27 January 2022 by the sole director, Keith Bastian, of c/o Howes Percival LLP, Howes Percival LLP, 3 The Osiers Business Centre, Leicester, England, LE19 1DX will be heard at the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts in England and Wales, Insolvency and Companies List (ChD), by remote Microsoft Teams on 4 March 2022, at 10:30am (or as soon thereafter as the Applications can be heard). Any creditor of either Fischer Malta Ltd and/or Fischer Marketing Malta Ltd has permission to attend, file evidence in connection with and be represented at the hearings. Any creditor wishing to do so should contact the Applicant's Solicitor in advance of the hearing on 4 March 2022. Evidence should take the form of a witness statement complying with the Practice Direction to Part 32 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and should be filed and served on the Applicant no later than 25 February 2022. The Applicant's Solicitor is Karyn Coburn, Howes Percival LLP, 3 The Osiers Business Centre, Leicester LE19 1DX, Telephone: 0161 259 0400, Email: karyn.coburn@ howespercival.com (Reference number: CXM.KXC.231946.0006/8) RABAT KIDNAPPING Suspect told police he had 'wanted to CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Inspector Sarah Zerafa testified at the end of a tense three-hour sitting before Magistrate Mon- ica Vella, as the compilation of evidence against Christian Borg, 28, from Swieqi, Thorne Mangion, 27, from Qormi, Ty- son Grech, 26, from Isla, Burton Azzopardi, 20, from Bormla and Jeremy Borg, 20, from Qormi continued. They stand charged with the 21 January abduction of Carlos Schembri and severely beating him. All are pleading not guilty to the charges. Schembri had reported being bundled into a vehicle, where he was beaten and threatened in connection with the alleged theft of a van. He managed to escape and re- port the matter to the police. An unspoken, yet palpable, fear was the common denominator of almost all the prosecution witnesses summoned to testify yesterday. Inspector Zerafa told the court how the owner of Princess Ga- rage, Christian Borg, and its di- rector Joseph Camenzuli had filed a police report after finding parts of one of their vans in a ga- rage in Marsaskala. The police had gone to the ga- rage in question and found the parts there. The garage belonged to broth- ers Charlton Magro and Alessio Magro, she said, adding that they had informed the police that the van's engine was in an- other garage in Fgura. The inspector had accompa- nied Borg and Charlton Magro to the garage in question and found the engine there. It was returned to Borg, together with other parts, she said. After this, they had gone to the Paola police station to sign off the returned items and were asked about a report they had received from Marsaskala. They told the police that they knew about six cars being stolen, as the day before, a certain Car- los Schembri had been caught breaking into their yard. Borg told the police that his friends had caught Schembri and put him in a van. He added that some Peugeot 208s had also been stolen by Schembri. There was evidence that Schembri had stolen the van, the inspector told the court. 'I wanted to interrogate Carlos' Inspector Zerafa testified that she had asked Borg why Schem- bri had not been reported to the police. He replied that he had "wanted to interrogate Carlos" before turning him in. Soon after, the inspector learned that Carlos Schembri had reported being abducted. She had immediately informed her colleague, Inspector Rod- erick Attard about the previous report. Christian Borg was called to the police station and arrested. He was found to be carrying a mobile that had been taken from Carlos Schembri, she said. From there, more arrests were made, she said, naming the rest of the accused present in the court today. She had also questioned Tyson Grech, who had renounced to his right to have a lawyer pres- ent and subsequently released a statement. The Magro brothers had told the police that Schembri had gone to their garage, which was just a three or four minute walk from the police station, with a Peugeot Expert van that had no number plates, and had sold it to them. A separate investigation is underway into the van's prove- nance, the court was later told. Victim's sister testifies on threats Also testifying today was Schembri's younger sister, who described how on 21 January this year, her brother had called her and invited her to accom- pany him to the barber. She had gone to his garage and found his Mercedes parked outside, un- locked. Her brother was nowhere to be found, so she sent him a message on Facebook messenger, she explained. She told the court that she opened the car at around 4pm and noticed blood on the wind- screen and around two hours later, her mother called her up and asked her whether she knew a certain Tyson Grech, informing her that Carlos was in hospital af- ter being beaten up. The woman, who said she al- ready knew Grech, sent him a message on Facebook, asking for her brother's keys and mobile phone. The next day, she had re- ceived 10 missed calls, all from Grech. Five calls on Facebook and five on her mobile phone. Lawyer Jason Grima object- ed to this, asking whether the woman's mobile phone was be- ing exhibited in the acts of the proceedings. The court allowed the witness to hand over a pen drive with the evidence relating to the calls and messages in its stead. The girl went on, "He told me to tell him where Carlos was as he needed to speak to him… he said my family and I would be respon- sible for what happens to Carlos. Then he called my mother…" Magistrate lambasts Tyson Grech At this point, Grech suddenly stood up and gesticulated, walk- ing over to his lawyer to protest about something. The magis- trate was having none of it and ordered Grech to behave. "Mr Grech you are in a courtroom, what are you trying to do? Intim- idate a witness? These are things that shouldn't happen outside, let alone in a courtroom!" shouted the magistrate. The witness told the court that she was worried about the safety of her child. She said she recognised all the accused. "Tyson, Chris, Thorn, Burton and Jeremy." She in- formed the court that Grech had just pulled down his mask and smiled at her. Lawyer Jason Grima asked her who she was afraid of. "Under- stand there were five of them on my brother," said the witness. She said she was afraid of Tyson Grech and denied the lawyer's suggestions that she had been in a sexual relationship with him in the past. Grima, undeterred, suggest- ed that she had met with Grech and had sex with him on the day of the crime, to uproar from the prosecution bench. Witnesses' reluctant testimony Several other witnesses testi- fied: the owner of a garage next to Schembri's, who reluctantly said that she had heard someone call out to Schembri from a van in the road. "'Carlos come out!'' I thought they were going to take him to the polyclinic," she said, later explaining that she had