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The fishing company that holds the key

If proof was ever needed of the very close links between Sliema businessman Victor Balzan and his Sicilian business counterparts in Mazara del Vallo, it can be found in the documents pertaining to a now defunct fishing company that was set up in Malta in 1983.

The company, International Fishing Co. Ltd, was registered in Malta on 19 August 1983. The first directors of the company were Victor Balzan and a certain Philip Vaglica, a Sicilian national residing in Mazara del Vallo.

Victor Balzan had entered into the agreement on behalf of V.B. and Son Ltd and the registered address was in High Street, Sliema. Balzan and Vaglica had 2,500 ordinary shares each.

The International Fishing Co. Ltd had the objective to acquire, operate, charter and dispose of fishing vessels, boats and other seacraft. The company also had the brief to develop or participate in any fishing project or operation.

The company could also trade in fish in Malta and any other country, but was, however, restricted from retailing fish on the Maltese market.

The memorandum of association explicitly states that the company had to carry out its business, ‘exclusively in conjunction with the Maltese Libyan Arab Fishing Company Ltd’.

The latter company was registered in 1978 and was a joint venture between the Maltese government and Libya, with the intention of carrying out fishing activities for the economical benefit of both Malta and Libya. The company was eventually dissolved in 1990.

On 22 February 1990, Victor Balzan resigned from the board of directors of International Fishing Co. Ltd. This is the last documentation available at the Registry of Companies, apart from the annual return for 1985.

Last week MaltaToday reported that in the early nineties Italian police had uncovered links between the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra, and Maltese businessmen, involving drugs and arms trafficking in the central Mediterranean.

Palermo magistrates had in their possession a number of fishing permits containing Victor Balzan’s signature, which however were believed to be false. The police operations, code named Sole 1 and Sole 2, revealed close contacts between Victor Balzan and a certain Mario Bono from Mazara del Vallo. Voice recordings of telephone conversations between the two individuals related to the trafficking of drugs utilising fishing boats.

The fishing boats from Mazara del Vallo were used as a cover-up to transport drugs and arms to Malta en route to Libya. It was believed that a Maltese person with very close contacts in Libya could ensure safe passage into the North African country of the illicit trade.