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The owner of the first supermarkets that were to become part of the Priceclub chain has told the court that his supermarkets and the products they carried were sold to the Priceclub directors for Lm5 million.
“If I remember correctly the sale figure including the stocks added up to Lm5 million. Part of the deal was that they had to take on the debt of my company.”
Gauci told the court that as far as he could remember the debts of his company amounted to something between two and three million liri.
Frans Gauci was the owner and operator of the Save On supermarket in Paola and the Price Club supermarkets in Swatar and Burmarrad.
Gauci told the court he had approached his creditors and informed them of his plans to sell. “I told them that I was in the process of selling and told them who were to be the new owners. As I said the creditors were made aware of what was happening at that stage and there were no objections.”
The former Priceclub owner said when he owned the supermarkets in question his supermarkets offered the lowest prices on the market, and he advertised them in that way. “The profit margin was about 15 per cent.”
When cross-examined by lawyer Gianfranco Gauci, Frans Gauci said he was the only shareholder and director of his company Save On Discount Stores Company Ltd.
“My sister was in one branch and my wife in another and basically it was a family run business.”
Asked to present the accounts of his business, Frans Gauci said he would try and get a copy of the last set of accounts before he sold his supermarkets from his auditors. “When I have a copy I will pass it on so that they can be presented at a later stage of the proceedings.”
Frans Gauci said that during his negotiations with the Priceclub directors he gave all the information asked of him, as long as it was within his competence to provide it. Asked whether John C Grech was ever involved, Gauci replied: “I know that he once came to the supermarket, I showed him around, but I do not know whether he was involved or not.”
Also giving evidence in the court case instituted by the liquidator against the Priceclub directors were: Simon Mifsud, a director of the SMS group, Anthony Carabott, a director and manager at Misco and Raphael Aloisio, an accountant and auditor with Deloitte and Touche. All these witnesses were brought by the directors of Priceclub. Their testimony will be serialised in MaltaToday over the coming weeks.
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