Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/323754
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE 2014 News 6 CHRIS MANGION THE First Hall of the Civil Court has appointed lawyer Louis Cassar Pullicino as liquidator of Greenstar Ltd, after the company's sharehold- ers failed to appoint a liquidator when the company had declared itself bankrupt. Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKean heard how in November 2013, British nationals William and Helen Boden- ham, as directors of Greenstar Lim- ited, placed their company in a credi- tor's voluntary winding-up state. The two declared that Greenstar Ltd was not in a position to honour its debts. A month later, Dr Joselle Galea from Bank of Valletta proposed Brian Ton- na of Nexia BT be appointed as liq- uidator, with the proposal seconded by Pierre Farrugia of Nibe Market- ing Limited. no other proposals were made. A vote by show of hands was made and was carried unanimously. However in March 2014, Tonna re- fused the appointment. A meeting of the company's credi- tors was held to nominate a person to the office of liquidator. During the meeting those present were asked if they were interested in taking up the office of liquidator. Owen Sweetman, an alternate director of Greenstar Ltd asked if any creditors present for the meeting wanted to put forward the name of a liquidator, but no one for- warded any suggestions. The Bodenhams, who currently re- side in Spain asked the First Hall of the Civil Court to intervene and ap- point a liquidator. The court was also asked to fix the remuneration pack- age the liquidator would be paid. Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon appointed lawyer Louis Cassar Pulli- cino as liquidator of the company and ruled that the remuneration package would be decided at a later stage. JURGEN BALZAN PARLIAMENTARY secretary for competitiveness and economic growth José Herrera yesterday called for the UK government's backing in its bid to change the definition of illegal sports betting, which is included in the Council of Europe's draft convention on the manipulation of sports competi- tions. During a meeting with the UK minister for sports, tourism and equalities, Helen Grant, Herrera sought Britain's backing ahead of the Council of Europe's commit- tee of ministers' meeting due on 18 June, which is expected to approve the convention. Herrera asked Grant to back Mal- ta's opposition because the defini- tion of illegal betting in the draft convention goes beyond the agreed objectives of the convention itself. He made it clear that Malta fully agrees with the objectives of the Council of Europe's convention, but the definition given to illegal bet- ting is "an inappropriate encroach- ment into the Maltese betting in- dustry." Herrera thanked the British gov- ernment for being on the same wavelength with the Maltese gov- ernment in its argument that the EU should not harmonise certain aspects of laws regulating the on- line betting industry through in- struments adopted by bodies out- side the EU. During the Council of Europe's meeting in May, Malta's proposal to amend the definition was defeated by 15 votes against 11. The purpose of the convention is to "combat the manipulation of sports competitions in order to pro- tect the integrity of sport and sports ethics in accordance with the prin- ciple of the autonomy of sport." Its main objectives are to pre- vent, detect and sanction national or transnational manipulation of national and international sports competitions and to promote na- tional and international co-opera- tion against manipulation of sports competitions between the public authorities concerned, as well as with organisations involved in sports and in sports betting. However, Malta is objecting to the definition of illegal sports bet- ting, which the draft convention describes as "any sports betting ac- tivity whose type or operator is not allowed under the applicable law of the jurisdiction where the consum- er is located." So far, Malta has only mustered the provisional support of 10 coun- tries, including the UK, but the countries have yet to take an official stand on the matter. It is understood that Malta faces an uphill struggle to garner enough support to remove the definition of illegal betting which could harm the online betting industry which last year alone paid €11.5 million in taxes. The lucrative sector has long been at the centre of a tug of war between several European countries, with Malta's success in the sector being the envy of many countries. If the definition of illegal betting is approved, the convention will provide countries an additional and stronger legal tool to proceed against other countries over any perceived illegalities in the betting industry. If the definition of illegal betting is approved as it is, Malta would then take a decision whether to approve the whole convention or not, how- ever the decision would be taken at a political level. Currently, around 360 remote on- line betting licensees are registered in Malta, with the whole industry contributing around 6% of GDP. Malta seeks UK's backing over sport betting convention Court nominates liquidator after shareholders' disagreement INBOUND tourist trips in April stood at 150,030, an increase of 12.2% when compared to the corre- sponding month in 2013. Excluding the passengers who stayed overnight on board their berthed cruise ship, this increase amounted to 11.3%. A total of 122,129 inbound visits were carried out for holiday pur- poses, while a further 11,103 were undertaken for business purposes. Most inbound tourists came from EU Member States, while tourists from non-EU countries increased by 39.3%. The largest proportion of inbound tourists were aged between 45 and 64, followed by those within the 25-44 age bracket. Total nights spent went up by 16.4% when compared to April 2013, reaching 1,023,035 nights. The larg- est share of guest nights was spent in collective accommodation estab- lishments. Total tourist expenditure was esti- mated at €114.7 million, an increase of 13% over the corresponding month last year. Inbound tourism from January to April amounted to 382,654, an in- crease of 8.9% over the correspond- ing period in 2013. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 8.4%, reaching nearly 2.8 million nights. During the period under review, total tourism expenditure was es- timated at €291.4 million. This es- timate is 9.8% higher than that re- corded in 2013. Total per capita expenditure stood at €765, a marginal increase over last year. Tourist arrivals up by 12.2% in April Jose Herrera and Helen Grant