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Julian Manduca
Giving evidence in court, the former accountant of Biochemicals International Ltd, Patrick Clark, explained how through Biochemicals, Priceclub director Victor Zammit financially assisted the former supermarket chain.
Presented as a witness by Zammit who is the major shareholder and director of both Biochemicals and Priceclub, Clark told the court that the company he worked for paid Lm75,000 to buy its share in Price Club Holdings Ltd.
“After 2001, when Priceclub was doing badly Biochemicals first paid a sum of Lm50,000 and later another sum which was about Lm182,000 in order to assist Priceclub and improve its capital base,” Clark said.
During the two years from 2001, Clark told the court that substantial sums of money were spent in an attempt to find investors to advance more money to Priceclub, the accountant added.
“Bags of money were spent and I am sure that a sum of about Lm40,000 was spent for that purpose. Moreover, Biochemicals gave hypothecs to the banks to guarantee the loans taken by Priceclub. Biochemicals never got anything back for its investment. It never got a return.”
The accountant told the court that Biochemicals Ltd is mainly involved in the manufacture of toiletries and detergents and that the company suffered because of what happened to Priceclub.
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