Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/652704
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 MARCH 2016 26 Letters News - 12 March 2006 ENTREPRENEUR Victor Zammit, the di- rector of the failed Priceclub supermarket chain, faced an onslaught from Dr Henri Mizzi on Friday in the case brought against the company by liquidator Andrew Borg Cardona, over Priceclub's financial status when it was haemorrhaging badly. Mizzi accused Zammit, the president of Birkirkara FC, of being dishonest in his rela- tions with his main creditors by presenting a positive picture of the company, at a time when Priceclub was facing losses and a bur- geoning debt. Zammit was testifying under cross ex- amination in the liquidation proceedings filed by Priceclub Operators Ltd liquidator Andrew Borg Cardona. The proceedings were filed against him and former directors Chris Gauci and Wallace Fino and Priceclub Holdings Limited. Borg Cardona has filed two actions against the directors, one for a declaration that they were guilty of fraudu- lent trading, and another to declare that they continued to trade when the company was insolvent. Priceclub Operators made cumulative losses of Lm1.13 million by September 2000, when creditors were already asking Zammit about the precarious situation of the dis- count supermarket chain. Six months later, losses had increased to Lm1.55 million. "Are you going to insist that, according to the accounts that you were shown at the time, your company was on its way to break- even?" Mizzi asked Zammit about the direc- tor's assurances to creditors at the time. "You have to consider the systems em- ployed to improve the situation. For months our consultant would tell us our perfor- mance would improve," Zammit said, his insistent defence being that his accountants and consultants told him Priceclub would be soon out of the doldrums. But it was clear that by September 2000, Zammit was facing pressure in justifying the company's performance. Priceclub's main creditor, Alf Mizzi & Sons, had met with Zammit at the end of the year to dis- cuss the company's situation. In November, Alec Mizzi wrote to Zammit informing him of the Lm713,000 credit balance with Alf Mizzi & Sons, saying Priceclub's accounts for 1999 were "a deep concern" due to the company's "enormous credit exposure". The company had registered pre-tax losses of Lm260,000 in 1999 when it had registered a turnover of Lm21 million, the result of the takeover of two supermarkets, Carter's and Save On. "The increase in turnover was not as a result of sales but because you had amalga- mated these two operations," Henri Mizzi said in court. "You gave the impression that this did had not been as a result of the merger. You said directors were confident of a better performance when losses had in fact tripled." So what did Victor Zammi show Alec Miz- zi in November 2000 to have his Lm713,000 credit increased to Lm800,000? "You're not saying the truth," Henri Mizzi told Zammit. "You just told Mizzi what you were doing to improve the situa- tion. Mizzi was deeply concerned with the losses of Lm260,000, and then the losses of Lm844,000 by September 2000… and you managed to get more credit from Mizzi. So which sort of accounts did you show him?" By 2001, Zammit was telling creditors the supermarket was heading towards break- even. That same year Priceclub crashed, leaving creditors chasing for their monies in court. Its suppliers had already stopped ad- vancing any more credit, as the supermar- ket lost the support of its creditors. A month later, Priceclub's directors – Vic- tor Zammit, Wallace Fino and Chris Gauci – produced a 20 per cent investment pro- posal to creditors, which in liquidator An- drew Borg Cardona's previous testimony has been described as an attempt to "de- fraud third parties to the tune of Lm1 mil- lion through their estimation of the value of Priceclub at Lm5 million, when the com- pany was effectively bankrupt virtually from its birth…" Alec Mizzi had also written to Zammit over the fact that Priceclub Operators, the company which ran the supermarket, did not even own its stores. These were in fact the property of another associated company which held all the company's assets. When Priceclub crashed, its shareholders lost their Lm101,000 investment, but credi- tors were left with Lm8 million unpaid. This was the set-up for Priceclub, separating its revenue-generating company Priceclub Op- erators Ltd and its Lm101,000 capital from the other associated companies which held the supermarket's significant assets. That way, the liquidation of Priceclub Operators would not affect the assets in the other com- panies, unless these too were also liquidated. Borg Cardona has filed two actions against Priceclub Holdings Ltd, requesting the company's liquidation, and asking the court to "lift the veil" and find the whole group of companies responsible for the insolvency of Priceclub Operators Limited. When Zammit wrote back to Alec Mizzi, taking umbrage at the letter, he used the Priceclub Operators letterhead to tell Mizzi the company owned its stores. But in court Zammit said he was speaking in the name of Price Club Group. "But the debtor was Priceclub Operators," lawyer Henri Mizzi retorted. "What sort of guarantee could you give to Mizzi, with cap- ital spread over different companies… the Lm713,000 credit limit increased, when you hid the company's negative results in 2000 and gave a good picture of the company." Priceclub liquidation – Zammit 'dishonest' in giving positive picture Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Paceville bouncers acted appropriately Reference is made to the article of 26 February, 2016 ("French youth 'suffers violent and racist attack' by Paceville bouncers"). My clients – Joseph Carabott and Omar Bonello, are categori- cally denying the allegations being made against them therein. For the sake of clarity, the inci- dent started inside the establish- ment in question and it involved Kevin Prince Argelier and another man. The security personnel in- tervened promptly, as is their duty, to separate the two men and to control the situation. They asked both men involved in the scuffle to leave the premises, however Kevin Prince Argelier remained very agitated and was refusing to leave the premises as requested. At that moment Joseph Carabott was positioned next to one of the main entrances of the establish- ment. Through his earpiece, Carabott received his colleagues' request for assistance and so pro- ceeded upstairs to assist his col- leagues. Once there, Carabott and another security guard were asked by their colleagues to escort Kevin Prince Argelier out of the premises as the latter was still refusing to leave. However, Argelier kept resisting and insisting that he did not want to leave, so much so that the two security staff were having trouble controlling him. At one moment Argelier even grasped the railings of the stair- case tightly and would not let go. Thus, a third security guard, Omar Bonello, had to assist his colleagues in escorting Argelier down the stairs and out of the premises. Eventually Argelier was escorted outside and he was immediately handed over to the executive police officers on duty who by then were already outside of the mentioned establishment. The events as reported in your article raise many doubts as to Argelier's credibility and as to the exact details of what occurred on that night. For the time being, suffice it to say that Argelier was very economical with the truth, apart from the fact that his ver- sion of events is somewhat biased as throughout all the article he points the blame at all and sundry, except, of course – himself. The very nature of my clients' occupation requires them to stop any fight or scuffle which might, and inevitably, does, break out inside the establishment and to get all those involved out of the premises – irrespectively of their skin colour. The main priority is to defuse an argument quickly and to protect the other patrons. In reality, Argelier was not treated "differently" but rather, he reacted "differently" by becoming increas- ingly violent and resisting at all costs being removed from the premises. Carabott and Bonello are deny- ing in the most absolute man- ner the serious allegations made against them to the effect that they repeatedly punched and kicked Argelier since, as stated above, once out of the establishment Argelier was immediately handed over to the police officers. Finally, my clients are also deny- ing in the most absolute manner that they ever used any of the racially-motivated slur reported in your article against Argelier and if such derogatory terms were in fact used to address Argelier, they were most definitely not used by Car- abott or Bonello. In this regard my clients are reserving every right at law and are considering the best course of action to address the se- rious accusations levelled against them by Kevin Prince Argelier. Dr Francois Dalli Valletta Asylum seekers denied minimum wage The African Community in Malta will hold a peaceful, respectful protest on Wednes- day 16 March when it walks from the Phoenicia Hotel Valletta and towards the Malta parliament in Republic Street, Europe House and the Prime Minister's office, to bring awareness to the government and to the European Union about our main problems in Malta: documents and dis- crimination. We are all grateful that Malta gave us sanctuary after our long and dangerous journeys. However we ask the parliament to address the main problems we have here. In over 12 years we believe that fewer than 5% of African asylum seekers were granted refugee status. This means the majority (subsidiary protection status and other categories) when they are able to find work pay social security payments and taxes but cannot access the same benefits as other work- ing citizens who contribute to taxes and social security. In particular they are not ac- cumulating any pension rights, which is creating a problem for the future. Secondly asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected once or twice (rejects and double rejects) are permitted to remain in Malta but are not even permitted to register for work with ETC. Some have been living in Malta for more than ten years, in poverty and in limbo, and unable to return to move to a country where they can have an opportunity to work and contribute to the economy of their host country. Finally Africans in Malta suffer from daily discrimina- tion in Malta because of our skin color and religion (even Christians). We regularly re- ceive verbal abuse, and receive hate speech from the minor- ity of Maltese people who feel threatened by our presence, and who take advantage of us whether by openly overcharg- ing us in shops, or paying us less than the legal minimum wage. Unfortunately the mass migration of non-Africans into Europe over the last few months has created more re- sentment towards all migrants. We ask you to be there to broadcast our complaint to address these matters please, so as to do good integration and create opportunity to use our skills to contribute to the economy and diversity of Malta. Ahmed Nuur Ibrahim African Media Association Malta