Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/413175
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2014 News 17 MATTHEW VELLA THE friends of motorcycle club pres- ident Alex Vella are rallying around the Maltese chief of the Rebels MC, who has been left 'stranded' in his country of birth after Australian im- migration minister Scott Morrison refused him a visa to return to Aus- tralia while on a holiday in Malta. 4,000 signatures have already been left on an online petition on Change. org which described the cancellation of Vella's visa as a "pathetic un-Aus- tralian act of bastardry". Vella, 61, had been living in Aus- tralia with his family for 46 years since he migrated there from Malta as a child. His visa was cancelled ear- lier in summer under 'character pro- visions' banning him from re-entry. The ban against going back to Aus- tralia has been issued under "charac- ter provisions" in the Migration Act. Vella migrated to Australia in the 1960s, and has been denied Austral- ian citizenship. His solicitor says that Vella has only ever been convicted on "minor offences", and wants the government to make public the rea- son for the visa refusal. But the Australian government treats the Rebels bikie gang as "one of Australia's highest risk criminal threats" and claims that Vella "con- tinues to exert significant influence" over the group despite his exile in Malta. According to court documents ob- tained by Daily Mail Australia, min- ister Scott Morrison's decision relied on detailed intelligence provided by an Australian Crime Commission- led task force and outlined in a docu- ment tendered in the federal court last month. The 'Attero' task force was estab- lished in 2012 to 'disrupt, disable and dismantle criminal activities of the Rebels MC – one of Australia's high- est risk criminal threats', the docu- ment states. Attero investigators allege that under Vella's leadership the Rebels have engaged in drug dealing, money laundering, serious assaults, kidnap- ping, extortion, firearms offences, threatening law enforcement officers and intimidation of court witnesses. It is believed the gang has more than 2,000 members across the country. Attero investigators said that be- tween January 2012 and June 2013, 718 Rebels MC members, nominees and associates were either report- ed or arrested in relation to 1,211 charges for offences ranging from violence-related offences, including serious assault, stalking, kidnapping and affray, firearms and weapons of- fences, drugs offences, and property, street and traffic offences. Vella has denied running a criminal organisation and has challenged the Department of Immigration's deci- sion in the federal court. Vella, in the past described as a mil- lionaire businessman, is raising mon- ey with $50 t-shirts on his new web- site alexvella.com.au, which recounts his story of migrating to Australia. A campaign under the slogan 'BRING HIM HOME' also calls on well-wishers for their support. The Let Alex Vella Return to Australia Facebook page has received over 21,000 likes. Migrant 'rebel' Alessio Emanuel Vella was born in 1953, the seventh in a family of 11 children. After school he would work on the family farm, and at the age of eight he worked for local builders, carrying bricks and water for two shillings (about 23c) a day. In 1967, his parents moved to Australia after five of his elder brothers had moved there, where his family ran a straw- berry farm. At 16, he was in professional box- ing, fighting for $12 a fight, and in 1978 he won the Maltese light heavy- weight championship. He started the Rebels Motorcycle Club in Dubbo in 1973 and since then has made a liv- ing in property and real estate. Vella has described the Rebels MC as a family of friends who love mo- torcycles and the lifestyle, and that they are targeted by 'anti-bikie' laws forbidding their association sim- ply because they are outside social norms. Vella has also acknowledged the existence of criminal elements inside biker chapters, but that it should be law enforcement to deal with unruly members. But the Attero task force claims that Vella has overseen the expan- sion of the Rebels 'OMCG' – outlaw motorcycle gang – from three chap- ters into the largest one in Australia. "He also acknowledges he is aware that several members of the Rebels MC have been involved in criminal activities. The fact that Rebels MC members remain members despite criminal convictions, including convictions obtained whilst being members of the OMCG, contradicts Vella's as- sertions that Rebels MC does not condone criminal activity by its members, and allows them to remain members," Attero investigators said. The Rebels expanded from Austral- ia to include international chapters in 20 other countries: Cambodia, Cana- da, Costa Rica, Croatia, England, Fiji, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Lebanon, Malta, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the USA. ZZZPNJQJRYPW Renting out your property has never been so attractive. As a property NVMDQXNTB@MQDFHRSDQXNTQOQNODQSXMNV@MCADMDƥSEQNL@MDV@MC QDCTBDCƦ@SQ@SDNEVHSGGNKCHMFS@WNMQDMS@KHMBNLD3@JDSGHR BG@MBDSN@KRNQDFTK@QHRDXNTQS@WONRHSHNMNMO@RSQDMS@KHMBNLD1DFHRSDQ XNTQQDMSDCOQNODQSXMNV@MCADMDƥSEQNLOD@BDNELHMC FOR MORE INFORMATION $5('8&(' 7$;5$7(21 5(17$/,1&20( % OR CALL VISIT Rebels' president Alex Vella starts Facebook campaign to return to Australia Australian Daily Mail says court documents from Australian Crime Commission task force described Rebels Motorcycle Club as 'high-risk criminal threat' Alex Vella's visa was cancelled earlier in summer under 'character provisions' banning him from re-entry