Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1504886
2 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 AUGUST 2023 2 Magistrate orders inquiry into No Deposit Cars and company representatives KARL AZZOPARDI MAGISTRATE Elaine Rizzo has ordered a magisterial inquiry be launched into accusations of se- rious crimes, including kidnap- ping, money laundering, theft and stalking involving persons connected to No Deposit Cars Ltd. The magisterial inquiry will be launched into the company as well as its representatives Chris- tian Borg, Joe Camenzuli, Luke Milton, Thorne Mangion, James Spiteri and Tyson Grech. This will be the first time the company will be formally inves- tigated for criminal offences after years of allegations by its clients. In an application filed by law- yer Jason Azzopardi last April, two of the plaintiffs claimed that five or six years ago, Luke Milton and Christian Borg had engaged a "Serbian national named Alexan- der and a Maltese man to kidnap a Maltese youth…to force him to sign bills of exchange." It describes how Milton and Borg had sought to follow the movements of the Maltese man. When they spotted him some days later, the document says, they kidnapped him, binding his hands and putting a covering over his head and throwing him into the car's luggage boot, before driving him to a garage in Mqab- ba. There, he was taken out of the car, head still covered, and tied to a chair, and beaten until he ac- cepted to sign the 18 bills of ex- change totalling €18,000. It was "very normal" that a cer- tain No Deposit Cars employee named Noel would engage Mal- tese and foreign individuals to damage vehicles that had been leased by the company in order to force the car rental clients to pay the company contractual penal- ties, they said. The application says that the plaintiffs in question were also aware that "Noel" had ordered that a Citroen rented from the company be set on fire in Msida, some two or three years ago. Cash loaded on flights Another allegation made in the application states that Christian Borg would be spotted at the Malta International Airport car- park, loading black bags stuffed with cash into Tyson Grech's car on a weekly to twice-weekly basis. Passengers carrying over €10,000 in cash are required by law to declare any amounts in excess of €10,000 to customs of- ficials at the airport. The application states that since at least 2019, Borg would call Grech up from the airport car park and after Grech would pull up alongside Borg's Land Rover, Borg would proceed to transfer into Grech's car "several large black bags, similar to garbage bags, but full of cash in notes of various euro denominations." Grech would then immediately drive away. "Without a doubt," reads the application. "These bags would contain much, much more cash than the €10,000 permitted by law." "The legal presumption is that these are and were money de- rived from criminal activity or from the commission of a crime and therefore it is impellent to immediately begin a magisteri- al inquiry," the court document states, adding that a number of witnesses are prepared to testify before the inquiring magistrate. Lawyer Jason Azzopardi is rep- resenting the victims. Casa welcomes court's decision In a statement, PN MEP David Casa welcomed the court's deci- sion to open a criminal inquiry into the allegations of money laundering, conspiracy and crim- inal organisation committed by Christian Borg and No Deposit Cars Malta Ltd. Casa through his lawyer Jason Azzopardi had also submitted a court application in April after authorities failed to investigate and prosecute Christian Borg, de- spite allegations of transactions that should have been flagged as money laundering risks. "There is no justification for the police's failure to act when the Financial Crimes Investiga- tions Unit had been in possession of the facts for several months. The authorities must be faster to protect citizens from criminality. Instead they protect criminals who are close to people in pow- er," Casa said. He also reiterated the Bank Of Valletta's duty to provide a public explanation as to why it did not flag the illegal deposits made by Borg to the FIAU. The No Deposit Cars Malta showroom in Qormi (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday) THE Nationalist Party filed a judicial pro- test against the Broadcasting Authority and the PBS, after the latter chose not to broad- cast footage in and out of parliament on July 12 when Labour MPs voted against an Op- position motion for the holding of a public inquiry into the construction site death of Jean Paul Sofia. Party's General Secretary Michael Pic- cinino, expressed his concerns and crit- icised the Broadcasting Authority for failing to issue an order to PBS to comply with the reporting, despite acknowledging the lapse by the state broadcaster a week ago. The Nationalist Party's protest specif- ically urges PBS and the Broadcasting Authority to cease their involvement in "perpetuating censorship of any criticism" against Prime Minister Robert Abela. The protest was formally signed by law- yers Paul Borg Olivier and Francis Zam- mit Dimech on behalf of the Nationalist Party. PN files protest after TVM fails to report scenes after Sofia vote in parliament Public Broadcasting Services (Photo: James Bianchi/Mediatoday)