Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515076
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JANUARY 2024 NEWS By decree given by the Civil Court First Chamber Commercial Section, on the 16th March 2022 in the acts of Sworn Application no 2/2022 ISB, filed on 6th January, 2022 in the names Dr John Bugeja noe vs Petroplus Ltd, the following publication was ordered to serve notice on the respondent. The applicant claims that the Court should, inter alia: Order the commencement of a competition of creditors of the sum which is deposited by virtue of the said schedule of deposit in accordance with Article 416 et seq of Chapter 12 of the Laws of Malta and take such provisions as required by law. The Sworn Application in the above names is adjourned for hearing on June 20,2022 at 9:30 a.m. Notice to respondent: Petroplus Ltd. Office 5B Level 8 Portomaso Business Tower, Portomaso Avenue, St. Julians Registru of the Superior Court, today 2nd May 2022 Carmel Abela M.SC. in MANAGEMENT. D.P.A. DIP LAWS of PROCED.(MELIT). For the Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals and 23.6% of Malta's GDP, or anything between €3.9 billion to €6.1 billion. While the two methods give a somewhat different indication about the trend in the size of the underground economy be- fore 2010, both show that the size of the underground econo- my in Malta has been quite sta- ble. Both estimates show that between 2008 to 2018, the size of the underground economy in Malta has been quite stable. But the MIMIC measure shows a slight downward trend, which was captured through a COVID-19 related measure, the wage supplement measure. The informal economy en- ables tax crime, and the size of the shadow economy al- so measures the extent of tax crime. The 2018 national risk assess- ment for Malta considered that one of the main sectors that appeared to attract undeclared work was tourism, including hotels and restaurants. Under the COVID wage sup- plement measure, businesses and the self-employed that are directly dependent on the tour- ism industry – tourist accom- modation, travel agents, lan- guage schools, event organisers and air transport operators – received a wage supplement. For this measure to apply, the relevant work had to be de- clared and consequently the wage supplement measure was an incentive for the companies and their workers to join the formal economy. In 2021, a significant rise in the GDP growth was corresponded by a decline in the employment growth, albeit still a positive employment growth rate. "This may indicate that there is a shift towards the informal economy again as pre-wage supplement measures," the NRA said. From 2019 to 2020, growth in employment increased at a de- creasing rate whereas growth in GDP decreased over the same period from 2019 to 2020. "Therefore, the increase in em- ployment is not explained by an expansion in the economy, which therefore implies that there was a shift from the in- formal economy to the formal economy." Cash control Through the Cash Control Regulations, any person enter- ing or leaving Malta or transit- ing through Malta and carrying a sum equivalent to €10,000 or more in cash, is obliged to de- clare the sum to the Commis- sioner for Tax and Customs. From 2017 onwards, outgoing cash is higher than incoming cash, implying that the threat of laundering foreign proceeds of crime in Malta via incoming cash declarations or undeclara- tions is low, since outgoing cash is higher than that incoming. However, the report says that checks by Customs, FIAU anal- ysis, police and AG prosecu- tors, all led to less cash being moved as is evidenced by the decline in the figures of the outgoing cash that declined to €9.2million by 2022. Nonethe- less, the threat of such launder- ing of money via the use of cash still exists. Year Entering Malta Declarations Leaving Malta Declarations 2013 5,344 € 251,941,837 889 € 52,556,813 2014 2,816 € 99,895,902 815 € 44,970,209 2015 713 € 28,035,843 307 € 20,360,093 2016 261 € 12,340,651 182 € 5,933,148 2017 166 € 15,864,432 331 € 18,625,346 2018 131 € 5,229,768 420 € 11,829,636 2019 107 € 3,921,939 542 € 23,536,945 2020 45 € 1,776,918 304 € 15,180,573 2021 51 € 1,439,649 321 € 9,796,895 2022 85 € 1,718,619 382 € 9,229,183 Totals 9,718 € 422,259,641 4,494 € 211,957,867 wage supplement exposed extent of Malta shadow economy From 2019 to 2020, growth in employment increased at a decreasing rate whereas growth in GDP decreased over the same period from 2019 to 2020.