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For further information kindly access the following link: https://foreign.gov.mt Closing date for applications Friday 27th May 2022 till 17:15 CET www.foreign.gov.mt GOVERNMENT OF MALTA MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AND EUROPEAN AFFAIRS AND TRADE MATTHEW AGIUS A Maltese family of restaura- teurs seeking millions in bank finance are attempting to claim hundreds of thousands they paid out to a Tajik con-artist known to the local police, and her associates. The details emerge from a case filed in 2018 by the com- pany Costa del Sol Ltd, against Eva Aydelman and Roksann Aydelman, and her advisors Raymond Pelicano, Johan Bal- dacchino Romano and lawyer Sarah Sultana. An extensive list of prospect- ed damages were displayed in court, including €280,000 in le- gal services paid to the law firm of justice minister Jonathan Attard, which was formerly involved at a later stage in as- sisting Anthony Curmi's Costa del Sol on various criminal and civil aspects of the company's troubles. Yet more hundreds of thou- sands were paid to Aydelman for her travel and accommo- dation expenses to and from Hong Kong and Paris, alleged- ly to obtain bank financing for Curmi's Costa del Sol. In his 2018 sworn application, Anthony Curmi, who owned the Costa del Sol restaurant in Mellieha, told the court that the company had engaged ar- chitects and submitted plan- ning applications with the aim of building a 5-star hotel on the site, but had encountered diffi- culties in securing financing. Curmi said he had bumped into Pellicano one day and had ended up discussing the hotel project and its money prob- lems. He claims Pelicano had of- fered to introduce Curmi to other intermediaries who could help him obtain a €50 million loan for the project. The inter- mediaries, Johann Baldacchi- no Romano and lawyer Sarah Sultana had met Curmi and explained that financing could be obtained through another intermediary – a certain Eva Aydelman, adding that they had successfully provided simi- lar services in the past. Con-artist history 57 year-old Aydelman, from Tajikistan, is a con-artist also known as Eva Vaiserfirer-Ei- delman, and at one time used the name 'Lady Geraldine Travers'. She had been jailed in the UK in November 2003 for mortgage fraud and illegal immigration. She has also been reported to have passed herself off as an Israeli businesswom- an. Aydelman is believed to have acquired the Travers alias by stealing the identity of an Irish child who died in infancy. Her Linkedin page indicates she currently lives in Panama. Her husband, Simon Aydel- man, was also facing trial in Malta for trying to kill her last April at their home in San Gwann. The bullet missed her but lodged in the façade of a house across the street. Si- mon Aydelman was then kept at Mount Carmel Psychiatric Hospital, in the forensic ward, for treatment. Four years ear- lier, in 2011, Simon Aydelman had already been charged with shooting in during an argument at a football club in Naxxar. He had also threatened to shoot the police officers who arrived on the scene. Meeting with Aydelman A meeting was held with Aydelman, on the premise that she had the ability and capa- bility to get sufficient financ- ing for the project to go ahead. Curmi was told by the defend- ants that in order for this fi- nancing agreement to succeed, Costa del Sol had to appoint Pellicano as project manager, Baldacchino Romano as busi- ness consultant and Sultana as legal representative, so that they would be able to assist the company in this exercise to- gether with Aydelman. This was requested on the premise that they had already done similar work together and it was stressed that Aydelman would only trust them as con- sultants, making their appoint- ment essential to the project. Aydelman was to indicate which bank would allegedly provide the loan facility, but the defendants had also em- phasised that there was to be no direct contact between Cos- ta del Sol and the bank provid- ing the loan. Communication could only take place through them as intermediaries, or the financing agreement would be put at risk, Curmi was told. Costa del Sol said it had paid around €400,000 to the defend- ants directly or through third parties indicated by them, be- tween 2014 and 2015. This amount represented a deposit for Aydelman's services and re- imbursement for alleged costs and ancillary services related to the obtaining of the loan. These payments were to cover the purchase of air tickets and hotel stays – which the defend- ants insisted had to be business class and five star respectively – as well as feasibility studies, marketing plans, the setting up of a foreign website specifically for the granting of the loan, es- Costa del Sol owners bitten by Tajik con artist promising millions Restaurant owners seeking millions in bank finance to build hotel ended up being strung along by con- artist and her associates The hotel at Ghadira Bay that Anthony Curmi wanted to develop instead of te Costa del Sol restaurant.